AIN reports 30 reservations for the DTA JP1, and says they are not firm orders

Aviation International News reported on October 28, 2026 that DTA Aircraft has collected 30 reservations for the two-seat JP1 hybrid-electric multicopter, four of them during NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas the week before. AIN attributes the count to DTA Americas co-founder and chief executive Théo Parant. DTA's October 19 release, which this site reported separately, opened reservations and did not state a count. The count is AIN's October 28 report.

The photograph is not the aircraft flying in Arizona. AIN's October 16 report, at a URL dated October 5, credits it to DTA Aircraft. That page's image text says the JP1 flies at dusk during uncrewed flight testing in France, and the line with the credit says the aircraft has logged more than 200 hours of remote-controlled test flights in France with a dummy in the pilot's seat. AIN's October 28 report says the prototype kept at Scottsdale stays grounded.

Deposits, and what AIN says they are not

AIN says each reservation requires a $12,000 deposit, $10,000 of which is refundable, toward a $385,000 list price. DTA's October 19 page states the same deposit and the same price, and says the deposit counts toward the price and locks it. That page says the figures are preliminary and may change. AIN says the deposits hold places in the production queue but do not count as firm orders, and that DTA plans to send each buyer a binding purchase agreement once it is ready to schedule production of that aircraft. A reservation with a partly refundable deposit is not a firm order.

AIN says DTA expects to deliver the first 50 aircraft, which it calls the Launch Edition, in 2028, and that deliveries for buyers who reserve after those 50 positions fill would begin in 2029. DTA's page says chassis 1 to 50 form the Launch Edition and deliver in 2028, and that deliveries move to 2029 after chassis 50. Those years are the company's targets. AIN also says Launch Edition buyers are offered an engraved chassis-number plate, an invitation to the JP1's first U.S. flight, and priority access to the next aircraft. DTA's page lists those same items, plus an invitation to the Arizona assembly line and a standing invitation to an annual owners' gathering.

The prototype stays on the ground

AIN says DTA Americas keeps the JP1 prototype at Jet Aviation's facility at Scottsdale Airport, and that the aircraft, which has already accrued more than 200 flight-test hours in France, will stay grounded until DTA obtains an FAA experimental airworthiness certificate. That certificate is not reported as issued. An experimental airworthiness certificate is not a type certificate. AIN says that when U.S. testing begins the aircraft will have a pilot on board, whereas earlier flights in France were remotely piloted within visual line of sight. DTA's October 19 page says a U.S. flight-test campaign will open in Arizona in 2027. That year is a plan. The page does not say the prototype is grounded, and it does not describe the France flights as remotely piloted. Those points are AIN's, quoting Parant on the pilot.

AIN says the U.S. tests will be the first time DTA measures the JP1's endurance and range. It says DTA advertises two hours of endurance and 156 nautical miles of range with two people on board. Parant told AIN that the France campaign "was about handling, the autopilot, and speed, not distance," and that "endurance and range are what the U.S. campaign in Arizona will put on record in 2027." DTA's page says the JP1 flies two full hours with two people on board, and that figures are preliminary. The page does not state 156 nautical miles. The advertised figures are not a measured result, on AIN's account.

Certification, as AIN describes it

DTA's page says the JP1 is on a light-sport aircraft certification path under the FAA's MOSAIC rule. A path is not an issued certificate and not a type certificate. AIN says light-sport manufacturers do not earn type certificates under MOSAIC. AIN says they must show that designs meet the FAA's light-sport requirements, which lean on ASTM consensus standards, and that the FAA then issues each aircraft a special airworthiness certificate based on the manufacturer's statement of compliance. A special airworthiness certificate is not a type certificate. AIN says that, according to DTA, the FAA has not yet decided which aircraft category the JP1 falls under. DTA describes it as a multicopter, not a powered-lift aircraft. AIN says multicopter is not an FAA aircraft category. AIN says Parant estimated, in an interview earlier in the month, that DTA needs at least another year to show the JP1 meets the ASTM standards for its category and to earn light-sport certification, and that production and customer deliveries can begin only after that. That estimate is Parant's.

What is not established

No firm order is stated. Thirty reservations are not thirty purchase agreements. No experimental airworthiness certificate is reported as issued, and no type certificate is reported as issued. No U.S. flight is reported as completed. The 2027 test campaign and the 2028 and 2029 deliveries are targets. The two-hour and 156-nautical-mile figures are what AIN says DTA advertises, not a measurement AIN says has been made. This page has not independently verified the reservation count.

Sources

Facts as reported by the linked sources as of Nov 11, 2026. Company targets are plans, not guarantees. Corrections: see About.