"Certified" gets used loosely in eVTOL coverage. Here's what type certification actually requires from the FAA and EASA, and why the two regulators created an entirely new aircraft category to make it possible.
The FAA created "powered-lift" as a distinct aircraft category and certifies eVTOL designs under an adapted Part 21 type-certification framework, laid out in Advisory Circular AC 21.17-4. Because powered-lift aircraft didn't fit neatly into existing pilot-training and operational rules either, the FAA also issued a Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) covering how powered-lift pilots get trained and certified. In June 2024, the FAA and EASA jointly announced a milestone in aligning their respective certification criteria for eVTOL aircraft -- a notable step, since a design that has to be independently certified from scratch in every market is a much slower and more expensive path to commercial service.
EASA's approach is built around a Special Condition for VTOL aircraft, known as SC-VTOL, which splits eVTOL designs into two tiers. The "Enhanced" category -- which covers commercial passenger operations -- requires a catastrophic failure rate of no more than one in a billion flight hours (10 to the negative 9), the same safety bar applied to conventional commercial airliners. That's a demanding standard for a fundamentally new aircraft architecture, and it's the reason redundancy (in motors, batteries, and flight controls) shows up so consistently as a design priority across every serious eVTOL program.
The gap between "flew a test flight" and "certified for revenue passenger service" is enormous, and it's measured in years, not months, precisely because of the failure-rate and redundancy requirements above. As of 2026, only a handful of eVTOL type certificates have been issued globally, and none yet by the FAA. Congressional legislation introduced in February 2026 -- the bipartisan Aviation Innovation and Global Competitiveness Act -- directs the FAA to lean more on industry consensus standards and commit to clearer review timelines, a sign that the pace of this process is itself becoming a policy issue, not just an engineering one.
Understanding this framework is the baseline for reading any eVTOL certification news accurately -- including the company-by-company comparison in our tracker.
FAA Statement on eVTOL Aircraft Certification: https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-statement-evtol-aircraft-certification
FAA, EASA Release New Certification Criteria for Air Taxis -- FLYING Magazine: https://www.flyingmag.com/faa-easa-release-new-certification-criteria-for-air-taxis/
FAA creates new powered lift category for eVTOL aircraft -- Aerospace Testing International: https://www.aerospacetestinginternational.com/news/faa-issues-sets-out-evtol-regulations.html
