Building the World's First Electric Air Taxi | Vertical Aerospace CEO Stuart Simpson

Building the World's First Electric Air Taxi | Vertical Aerospace CEO Stuart Simpson

From The Leadership Enigma by Adam Pacifico

July 20, 2026 · 51 min · Episode 260

About this episode

Adam Pacifico interviews Stuart Simpson about the future of electric air taxis and leadership in breakthrough companies.

Electric air taxis flying over London by 2029? It's closer than you think. Adam Pacifico sits down with Stuart Simpson, CEO of Vertical Aerospace the British company that just became one of only two in the world to achieve full aircraft transition (taking off like a helicopter, flying like a plane, and landing like a helicopter again). With 1,500 aircraft pre-sold to American Airlines, Japan Airlines and others, this is no longer science fiction. But this conversation goes far beyond flying taxis. Stuart opens up about what it really takes to lead a breakthrough company from his unlikely start in medicine, to restructuring businesses in the 1990s recession, to leading Royal Mail through Covid, to now building an entirely new industry from the ground up. In this episode: ✅ How Vertical Aerospace achieved what no other company had done for a fraction of competitors' budgets ✅ Stuart's 3-horizon plan: prototype → certify → industrialise ✅ Why he deliberately wasn't there for the historic transition milestone ✅ Creating a culture where people give discretionary effort willingly ✅ The infrastructure challenge of urban air mobility ✅ What leadership legacy actually means Canary Wharf…

People in this episode

Host: Adam Pacifico

Guest: Stuart Simpson

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Vertical Aerospace, American Airlines, Japan Airlines

Places: London, Canary Wharf, Heathrow, JFK, Manhattan

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