Dómhnal Slattery brings over three decades of global aviation industry expertise to Vertical Aerospace. He served as chairman from January 2022 to August 2023, during which time Vertical built its industry leading order-book and listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Slattery is an aircraft leasing and finance pioneer, having founded and built Avolon and SMBC Aviation into leading industry players. Today, they are respectively ranked as the number two and three aircraft leasing companies in the world. He is also CEO and chairman of Clahane Capital, a Dublin-based venture capital firm.
Vertical will benefit from Slattery’s extensive leadership and capital markets expertise and, in particular, his understanding of and track record in the global aviation sector.
“Dómhnal’s remarkable track record of founding and scaling world-class businesses positions him perfectly to guide Vertical’s journey. His leadership, understanding of capital markets and deep industry expertise will be invaluable as we accelerate towards achieving our Flightpath 2030 goal of becoming the global leader in the eVTOL sector,” said Stuart Simpson, CEO of Vertical Aerospace.
Slattery has been widely recognised for his exceptional contributions to the aviation industry. He was the 2023 recipient of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT) Award and the “Outstanding Contribution to the Aviation Industry” award at the Aviation Industry Awards in 2016. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate from Dublin City University in 2022 and the NYU Lewis L Glucksman Award for Ethical Leadership in 2020 – both of which recognised his contribution to aviation and entrepreneurship.
The appointment of Dómhnal Slattery as chair follows significant progress for the business on its path to commercialise zero emissions air travel. Vertical recently strengthened its balance sheet by $180m including securing $50m of new committed funding. Vertical also became the second company in the world to achieve piloted thrustborne flight with a full-scale vectored thrust eVTOL aircraft. Stephen Welch, the outgoing chairman, will continue to serve on the Vertical board as a non-executive director.
“Vertical is leading one of the most transformative shifts in aviation history, driving the transition to zero-emissions flight. I am excited to re-join the business at such a pivotal time. We have the team, technology and vision to pioneer electric aviation and deliver on our ambition to be the world’s leading eVTOL company by the end of the decade,” said Slattery.
