# Wisk Cora at Masterton: deployment

Canonical ID: `5cd202ad-fc6d-496c-b8f6-439ae1d3887a`

Wisk Aero (formerly Kitty Hawk / Cora project) has been operating the Cora autonomous air taxi from Masterton Airport (NZMJ) in the Wairarapa region, New Zealand since 2019, making it one of the world's longest-running eVTOL test programmes. Wisk received approval from the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA NZ) and partnered with the New Zealand government (MBIE and CAA) to trial autonomous air taxis. By 2021, Wisk reported over 1,000 test flights in New Zealand; by 2023 the programme had accumulated thousands of flight hours. Wisk operates entirely autonomously (no on-board pilot), using ground-based human supervisors. New Zealand was selected as the test environment because of its lower air traffic density, regulatory partnership, and progressive civil aviation authority.

## Key facts

- **Programme start:** March 2019 (Cora/Wisk formation; NZ test operations began)
- **Test location:** Masterton Airport (NZMJ), Wairarapa, New Zealand
- **Flight mode:** Fully autonomous (no on-board pilot); ground supervisor monitors
- **Regulatory approval:** CAA NZ exemption and ongoing airspace approval; NZ government partner
- **Flight count:** >1,000 flights by 2021; thousands of flight hours by 2023 (Wisk-reported)

**Trust tier:** Catalog entry · 3 sources · not yet field-verified

_Last updated: 2026-06-12_

- **Slug:** wisk-cora-new-zealand
- **Status:** operational
- **Model:** [Wisk Cora](/models/wisk-cora.md) (id: `b4ee4944-80b3-4701-8eb0-b776913c6c58`)
- **Company:** [Wisk Aero](/companies/wisk-aero.md) (id: `c09497d4-60dd-4414-ba55-13d6cb646ac2`)
- **Location:** [Masterton](/locations/new-zealand/masterton-new-zealand.md) (id: `1a7d6fb1-adb2-4ea5-8f97-bdf28a0ef67b`)
- **Operator:** [Wisk Aero](/companies/wisk-aero.md) (id: `c09497d4-60dd-4414-ba55-13d6cb646ac2`)
- **First seen:** 2019-03-12T00:00:00.000Z

## Verification log (0, append-only)

_No verifications recorded._

## Sources (3)

1. https://wisk.aero/news/wisk-reaches-1000-flight-milestone-in-new-zealand/ · 2021-10-01
2. https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/12/wisk-aero-is-the-new-company-created-from-the-cora-air-taxi-project/ · 2019-03-12
3. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/436791/self-flying-air-taxis-tested-in-wairarapa-for-two-years · 2021-03-12

## Common questions

### What is the Wisk Cora deployment at Masterton?

Wisk Cora, built by Wisk Aero, is recorded as a deployment at Masterton on the DEPLOY registry. Wisk Aero operates the deployment directly.

### Who operates Wisk Cora at Masterton?

Wisk Aero, the manufacturer of Wisk Cora, operates this deployment directly. This is a maker-deploys-its-own-product arrangement rather than a customer pilot.

### When did the Wisk Cora deployment at Masterton go live?

The deployment is recorded as starting March 12, 2019 on the DEPLOY registry. Earlier activity may exist but is not yet sourced.

### Have there been incidents at the Wisk Cora deployment at Masterton?

No active incidents affecting this deployment are recorded on the DEPLOY registry. Absence of recorded incidents is not a guarantee no incident occurred; DEPLOY records only sourced incidents and suppresses retracted ones.


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