On the morning of August 31, the SKYLA V30 A/C01 rollout ceremony was held at the final assembly hall of Harbin Hafei Industry Co., Ltd. As the curtain fell, the SKYLA V30 technology demonstrator A/C01, a tiltrotor electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, appeared before the audience for the first time as a complete, full-scale airframe.

A/C01 is the first full-scale technology demonstrator of the SKYLA V30 program. Its rollout means the program has formally moved from the design and development phase into whole-aircraft engineering validation. From this moment on, the aircraft no longer exists only in drawings and models. It is a real engineering prototype that must be verified step by step through ground testing, systems integration, and tilt-transition flight testing.

The Necessary Road from Drawings to Reality

The SKYLA V30 program was launched in early 2025. In December of that year, the scaled demonstrator completed the full tilt-transition flight sequence: vertical takeoff, tilt transition, level cruise, and safe landing. This provided initial validation of systems integration and flight control capabilities.

In April 2026, supplier selection was completed. At the end of May, the A/C01 drawings were released. At the end of June, the drawings for the framework aircraft were released. In mid-August, the framework aircraft was delivered. On August 31, the A/C01 whole-aircraft structure rolled off the line.

Looking back, every step has a clear point on the calendar. None of these milestones was an accident; each is the result of tightly interlocked planning and execution.

The Unveiling: A/C01 Goes Public

Attending the ceremony were Yu Dingzhi, Deputy District Head of Pingfang District, Harbin; Sun Yongheng, Party Committee Secretary, Chairman, and General Manager of Hafei Industry; Liu Yuxin, Chief Engineer of Hafei Industry; Wang Hongguan and Cui Chunyang, Deputy General Managers of Hafei Industry; Wu Qiong, Founder & CEO of SKYLA; Zhang Xu, Co-founder & COO of SKYLA; and Kong Deqiang, Vice President of SKYLA and General Manager of the SKYLA V30 program. Sun Yongheng and Wu Qiong delivered remarks in turn.

Sun Yongheng, Party Committee Secretary, Chairman, and General Manager, Hafei Industry

Wu Qiong, Founder & CEO, SKYLA

Yu Dingzhi, Sun Yongheng, Liu Yuxin, Wu Qiong, and Zhang Xu then jointly cut the ribbon and unveiled the SKYLA V30 A/C01. As the red silk slipped away, the outline of the full-scale technology demonstrator emerged clearly under the lights. This was the most important visual moment of the ceremony, and also the first time the team stood as onlookers, gazing at the aircraft they had drawn.

From left to right: Zhang Xu, Wu Qiong, Yu Dingzhi, Sun Yongheng, Liu Yuxin

After the unveiling, Cui Chunyang, Deputy General Manager of Hafei Industry, handed over the certificate of conformity marking the completion of airframe manufacturing to Kong Deqiang, General Manager of the SKYLA V30 program. The handover signifies that A/C01 has “graduated” from the manufacturing side to the integration side. It will leave Hafei Industry’s final assembly hall and enter SKYLA’s systems integration and testing process.

From left to right: Kong Deqiang, Cui Chunyang

Following the handover, SKYLA and Hafei Industry signed a strategic cooperation agreement. Zhang Xu, Co-founder & COO of SKYLA, and Wang Hongguan, Deputy General Manager of Hafei Industry, signed on behalf of their companies, with Wu Qiong and Sun Yongheng witnessing. Compared with the excitement of the unveiling, the signing was a quieter moment, but an equally important one: a rolled-out airframe is being plugged into a broader network of industrial collaboration.

From left to right: Zhang Xu, Wu Qiong, Sun Yongheng, Wang Hongguan

The Mission of A/C01

The SKYLA V30 is a six-seat, 2.5-ton-class, all-electric tiltrotor passenger aircraft. The team summarizes its design philosophy as SIENS: Safe, Intelligent, Efficient, Noiseless, Sustainable.

From the very start of the program, the SKYLA V30 has had a clear aircraft-level safety goal: to achieve civil-aviation-grade safety. This goal has served as a foundational constraint since day one of development, running through the architecture design of core systems including flight control, electric propulsion, and energy management.

A/C01’s next mission is to serve as a technology validation platform, supporting systems integration, ground testing, and tilt-transition flight testing. It is not the finish line, but the first paving stone on SKYLA’s road from design to engineering validation.