FT Rethink

Are electric air taxis and commuter planes really getting closer?

The aviation industry is keen to reduce its carbon footprint, and big money is being spent developing battery-powered aircraft. Last year, investors poured around $5bn into companies seeking to get manned electric VTOLs - vertical take-off and landing craft - airborne. The technology is improving, but as the FT’s Charlotte Middlehurst reports, there are still major hurdles to overcome.

Circular, lean inclusive and clean

by Lombard Odier

Plastic's new chapter

by Lombard Odier

Trashion vs Fashion

by Lombard Odier

The Race to net zero

More from the FT Rethink channel

Discover more content on the topics that inspire, engage and inform the world we live in today at the FT Channels hub.

Discover more​

Follow us

FT Rethink

FT Channels, a partnership destination that combines impactful and enriching multimedia content to spark curiosity and encourage discovery. Each vertical brings expert insights from the Financial Times and our Partners into the most pressing issues of our time.


FT Rethink series focuses on the people, technology, strategies and systems moving us from an economy that is wasteful, idle, lopsided and dirty towards one that is circular, lean, inclusive and clean. The channel alternates between independent reporting from FT journalists and business perspectives from Lombard Odier