German air taxi and drone manufacturer Volocopter has received the production organisation approval (POA), which complies with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA Part 21G).

This is the second certification for Volocopter after it obtained design organisation approval (DOA) from EASA (EASA Part 21J) in 2019.

With this, the company has become the first and only electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) company holding both the necessary DOA and POA to proceed towards the commercial aircraft launch.

Prior to launching the first commercial aircraft to market, the flying taxi start-up will seek type certification and obtain the air operator approval in compliance with the EASA.

With the EASA’s certification, Volocopter can launch services across Europe, Asia, and North America.

In a separate development, Volocopter has purchased composite aircraft manufacturer DG Flugzeugbau.

Volocopter will merge with DG Flugzeugbau’s aircraft production segment and EASA Part 21G POA, as well as induct the entire team of manufacturing experts into its production and workshop teams.

Volocopter CEO Florian Reuter said: “Our ten-year partnership with DG Flugzeugbau has been an extraordinary learning experience. Having this legendary industry leader on our side to kick-start scalable and affordable UAM for people and cargo has been a game-changer.

“Today marks an exciting milestone as we unify DG Flugzeugbau’s leadership in aviation production with Volocopter’s pioneering UAM goals to establish yet another crucial stepping-stone for our collective global endeavours.”

DG Flugzeugbau and Volocopter have collaborated earlier in designing and building the first electrically powered multicopter, VC200.

The aircraft secured approval to fly the multicopter in 2016, and the model autonomously flew in Dubai in 2017 and on stage at the 2018 CES in Las Vegas.

They also partnered in the production of the Volocopter 2X, the VoloDrone, and the VoloCity.