Eve Air Mobility: Building the Pilot Pipeline Before the Aircraft Arrives

As the aviation industry grapples with a global pilot shortage, Eve Air Mobility believes the all-electric, vertical take-off and landing eVTOL aircraft could do more than create a new transport market. They could attract an entirely new generation of pilots into aviation.

Speaking to CAT at the Farnborough International Airshow, Johann Bordais, CEO of Eve Air Mobility, said the company sees urban air mobility as a complementary pathway into aviation rather than a competitor for existing airlines.

"It's going to be helping to spread out, even more, and bringing more pilots to that passion of aviation," Bordais said. "People will start on an eVTOL, then move up the chain to the big aircraft."

Rather than pulling experienced airline pilots away from commercial aviation, Bordais believes eVTOL operations could create an entry point below today's traditional career ladder, offering younger pilots, and potentially a more diverse workforce, a simpler route into flying.

He also believes the aircraft's intuitive flight controls could appeal to digital-native generations.

"It could be a career route for people from the gaming. We had young people with no flying experience who picked it up incredibly quickly because the interface feels natural to them."

The reason is simple: to ensure pilots, instructors, simulators and maintenance personnel are ready as certification and commercial service approaches.

"You might deliver the aircraft to the customer, but if your pilots are not ready yet and certified by the authority, then you have a gap between the entering the service of the first airplane and the actual commercial operation, which obviously you don’t want."

Bordais is well aware of these interdependencies. Before joining Eve, he served as President & CEO of Embraer Services & Support, giving him firsthand experience of the importance of integrating training, maintenance and operational support throughout an aircraft's lifecycle.

Eve is targeting certification in 2028, with the first pilots, including Eve test pilots and aviation authority pilots, expected to begin training during 2027 as the company's flight test programme progresses.

Simulators Developed Alongside the Aircraft

Simulator development is proceeding alongside the aircraft programme, allowing flight training devices to mature as aircraft flight-test data becomes available. Earlier this year, at the Singapore Air Show, it was announced that CAE has sold a full-flight simulator to ECTS, supporting both aircraft certification and commercial pilot training ahead of Eve's planned entry into service.

The training syllabus itself is still being refined with regulators including Brazil's ANAC and the FAA, with discussions continuing around the balance between simulator time, aircraft flying and flight training devices.

A Different Kind of Pilot Experience

Although commercial pilots will still require professional licences, Bordais believes flying an eVTOL will be less demanding than conventional helicopters.

The aircraft separates vertical and wing-borne flight, while Embraer's fly-by-wire technology and simplified cockpit reduce pilot workload.

"What we've been working on is just making sure that the workload is less and less for the pilot, right? So they can focus on what they need to do, which is fly the aircraft," he said.

Rather than introducing completely new flying techniques, Eve expects pilots transitioning from helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft to adapt quickly after overcoming existing habits.

Automation as the Next Step

Looking further ahead, Bordais sees today's training programmes as the first stage in a longer journey towards increasing automation.

Eve's aircraft has been designed from the outset with future autonomous operations in mind, although Bordais stressed that fully autonomous passenger operations remain some way off.

"It’s a journey. You just make it the workload easier for the pilot, and then as automation increases, eventually you get to stage without a pilot, and fully autonomous. "

For now, however, the priority is ensuring pilots, instructors, simulators and maintenance engineers are all ready before the first Eve aircraft enters commercial service.

"It's not just about certifying the aircraft," Bordais said. " The training is a big chunk of it."