AFI KLM E&M to team up with Ascendance to explore VTOL maintenance solutions

Air France Industries-KLM Engineering & Maintenance (AFI KLM E&M) has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Toulouse-based Ascendance Flight Technologies (Ascendance) to jointly explore collaborations in the areas of line maintenance, component repair, mechanics training and airworthiness management.

Ascendance is currently working on a major take-off and landing aircraft (VTOL) project in Europe, called Atea which comprises a five-seat aircraft with a 400 km range through its Sterna propulsion architecture which has also been developed by the start-up. Sterna is a distributed hybrid electric motorization, adopting a modular energetic approach to accept conventional fuel, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and also hydrogen. The Atea prototype is expected to have its first flight in 2023.

AFI KLM E&M will be hoping to help the start-up, which was established and which has a mission to help decarbonize aviation, by providing both solutions and answers to problems that may be encountered when developing maintenance policies that are operationally and financially efficient.