2025
Marubeni Successfully Conducts eVTOL Demonstration Flight at the World Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan
Apr. 15, 2025
Marubeni Corporation
Marubeni completed a demonstration flight of “HEXA,” a one-person eVTOL*1 developed and manufactured by U.S.-based LIFT AIRCRAFT, Inc. (hereinafter, “LIFT”), at the EXPO Vertiport, a port within the Future Society Showcase Project Exhibition of the World Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan (hereinafter, “Osaka Expo”).
(From left) LIFT CEO Matt Chasen; Marubeni CSO, Regional CEO for Japan Business Hiromichi Mizuno
“HEXA” demonstration flight at the Osaka Expo
Overview
Marubeni, together with Marubeni Aerospace, has been conducting crewed demonstration flights in Japan using LIFT’s HEXA aircraft, contributing to building momentum for the social implementation of eVTOL. At the Osaka Expo, multiple demonstration flights are planned to be conducted from the event’s opening until July.*2 In addition, Marubeni plans to conduct demonstration flights of the four-passenger eVTOL “VX4” manufactured by the UK’s Vertical Aerospace Group Ltd. (hereinafter, “Vertical”) between the Expo venue port and a designated port outside the venue starting in October.
Future Prospects
Through these demonstration flights, Marubeni aims to give Osaka Expo visitors from all over the world an opportunity to witness the safety of flying cars. In addition, by utilizing the knowhow and network it has cultivated in the aviation-related business, Marubeni will lead the air mobility revolution, including by contributing to the creation of the ecosystem needed for air mobility operations, thereby creating new value for society.
*1 Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing
*2 The aircraft will fly in patterns, including ascending, descending, and circling, at a port within the venue. Flights are scheduled to take place in Morinomiya, Osaka from July onwards. The flight schedule will be announced on the official website of the Osaka Expo ( https://www.expo2025.or.jp/news/news-20250412-04/) (only available in Japanese).
LIFT Overview:
| Company Name: | LIFT Aircraft Inc. |
| Head Office: | Austin, Texas in the U.S. |
| Establishment: | 2017 |
| Representative: | Matt Chasen (Founder & CEO) |
| Main Business: | Development, manufacture, and sale of single-occupancy ultralight aircrafts |
| Website: | https://www.liftaircraft.com |
Vertical Overview:
| Company Name: | Vertical Aerospace Group Ltd |
| Head Office: | England, United Kingdom |
| Establishment: | 2016 |
| Representative: | Dómhnal Slattery (Chairman) |
| Main Business: | Development, manufacture, and sales of eVTOL partnering with aerospace companies |
| Website: | https://vertical-aerospace.com |
Related News Releases:
- Aug. 30, 2023
Business Feasibility Assessment for Operation of Flying Cars:
Moving Forward Together to Achieve a New Form of Aerial Mobility in the Kansai Region
https://www.marubeni.com/en/news/2023/release/20230830E.pdf - Mar. 14, 2023
First Successful Piloted Demonstration Flight of a Flying Car in Japan
https://www.marubeni.com/en/news/2023/release/00031.html - Feb. 21, 2023
Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan “Future Society Showcase Project Exhibition”:
Operators Selected for the “Smart Mobility Expo” “Advanced Air Mobility (AAM)”
https://www.marubeni.com/en/news/2023/release/00023.html