ABOVE: EASA Part 21J approval ensures Aura Aero aircraft are compliant with European design, manufacturing and equipment standards
French startup Aura Aero, manufacturer of the two-seat Integral family of aircraft, has received EASA Part 21J approval; officially becoming a certified aircraft manufacturer.
Complementing the Part 21G (industrial design) approval obtained by Aura Aero in November 2021, this latest approval follows a 24 month audit by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency on the Toulouse-Francazal site, where the manufacturer’s design office is also located.
Describing the approval as “a new step that validates our organization as well as our choices and our industrial maturity,” Jérémy Caussade, Co-founder and President of Aura Aero, added: “Just five years after launching the company, we have already made considerable progress”.
Founded in 2018, Aura Aero currently employs more than 200 people. Its Integral family of two-seat aerobatically-capable light aircraft (encompassing nosewheel, tailwheel and electric variants) feature wood and carbon construction and, according to the manufacturer, will ‘accelerate air transport decarbonization by industrializing disruptive technologies resolutely focused on the aviation of tomorrow’.
The S model, featuring tricycle-configuration landing gear, first flew in July 2022.The tailwheel R variant, which made its inaugural flight in 2020, will shortly recommence a flight testing campaign. A third variant, the fully-electric Integral E, was formally unveiled at the Paris Air Show in June and has already commenced testing.
Following further flight testing, Aura Aero hope to achieve EASA CS-23 certification as early as 2024.
IMAGE: AURA AERO
