American carrier United Airlines has made a $10 million pre-delivery payment to Archer Aviation for 100 eVTOL aircraft. The announcement was made by Archer, which said it had received the pre-delivery payment for 100 of the company’s initial production eVTOL aircraft. The airline made the deposit for the eVTOLs, which it had agreed to purchase in 2021. 'To receive a cash deposit is validation of Archer’s achievements to date, not only with flight testing and product development, but also a great signal of confidence in our roadmap to commercialisation,” Adam Goldstein, Archer’s CEO, said. “This announcement marks a new important phase in our relationship with Archer, and our commitment to EVTOL technology. We are witnessing an inflection point where consumers, businesses, and policymakers are all aligned to prioritise technology that reduces the impact of climate change,” said Michael Leskinen, President, United Airlines Ventures. United had also recently formed a joint eVTOL Advisory Committee with Archer, in which both parties would work more closely on eVTOL maintenance and operational matters. Archer has completed the production of eVTOL’s Preliminary Design Review and is now advancing to the next stage of its development and commercialisation efforts. The PDR lays out all aspects of the aircraft’s specifications, manufacturing requirements, and necessary pre-conditions to determine that the design is feasible for regulatory compliance and viable to bring to market.