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Overair Just Received $145 Million in Funding for eVTOL Development

Overair announced this week that it has received $145 million in funding from Hanwha to continue development of its Butterfly eVTOL aircraft. (Photo courtesy of Overair)

Overair, the Santa Ana, California-based electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) startup, just announced that it is receiving $145 million in funding for continued eVTOL development. The funding comes from the aerospace division of Korean conglomerate Hanwha Systems. Overair plans to fly a prototype of its eVTOL, called Butterfly, next year.

Josh Aronoff, Head of Business Development for Overair, spoke to Avionics about the new funding and the progress made with Butterfly so far. “Financing should support strategy and never vice versa,” he remarked. For Overair, their strategy is “to build not just a superior aircraft but a superior aircraft company.”

Overair originally began as a spinoff of Karem Aircraft in 2018. Aronoff explained, “When Uber started populating this concept of urban air mobility [UAM] using electric VTOL aircraft with batteries that aren’t that great in terms of energy density, the efficient VTOL propulsion IP happened to be a great fit.”

The company has taken the IP surrounding VTOL propulsion that it owns to work towards its objective of operating aerial ridesharing services in densely populated urban areas. The company first revealed the design of Butterfly last August, sharing that the vehicle would employ a vectored thrust configuration to enhance efficiency in flight.

Overair’s commercial strategy is to be a fast follower, said Aronoff. He acknowledged that Butterfly will not be the first eVTOL aircraft to achieve certification. Their team instead focuses on building a capable aircraft designed for a long-term market that will take the most efficient path to certification. Part of the reasoning for this strategy is the company’s belief that all of the necessary infrastructure and airspace management will not immediately be ready when the other eVTOL developers receive certification.

The team is currently wrapping up propulsion testing, which commenced in January, evaluating the propulsion system’s performance at flight speeds—both in vertical and forward flight mode. The resulting data is pushed to Overair’s engineers in Santa Ana as they continue development.

“We are now shifting gears to integrating our prototype, which will be flying mid- to late next year. Part of being on the most efficient path to certification is building a prototype at the point in time in the development program that allows the engineers to get the most out of it,” he explained.

“The utilization of aircraft is really driven by performance metrics that people aren’t focused on yet,” Aronoff commented. The design of the Butterfly eVTOL is unique—in particular, the rotors on the aircraft are quite large. This offers Overair significant power margins, even with weak battery cells, to enable all-weather operations. The larger rotors spin more slowly and have a lower disc loading, he added, and they have a low noise profile.

The team at Overair expects their aircraft to be the most capable eVTOL for less-than-ideal environmental conditions. “When it’s not nice and sunny outside, are you going to be able to make your flight with the eVTOL when you planned your schedule around the 15 minutes it takes?” asked Aronoff.

In addition to integrating their prototype, Overair is focusing on downselecting suppliers for their eVTOL’s major aircraft systems like the fly-by-wire system, flight control computers, and other avionics, Aronoff stated. “Hanwha Aerospace will be developing our prototype battery packs and electric motors,” he added. Hanwha offers Overair more than just the $145 million in funding. The conglomerate is considered a global leader in ancillary UAM services, Aronoff said, such as communications, connected vehicle, and ground infrastructure systems.

Having Hanwha as a strategic partner has enabled Overair to focus on the engineering and technical development side of the business as well as building out the Overair facilities. The headquarters are located in Santa Ana, California, and they have a flight test facility complex in Victorville.

Overair has also been working in collaboration with Bristow Group, a global provider of sustainable vertical flight solutions, since the two companies announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) last December. In addition to contributing to development of a framework for growing operations, Bristow placed a pre-order for up to 50 Butterfly eVTOL aircraft.

According to Aronoff, the team’s main technical achievement so far has been the full-scale propulsion testbed. Because the rotors are so large—the diameter measures 20 feet wide—the testbed is too big to test in wind tunnels. Instead, Aronoff shared, they are testing it out in the desert at their flight test facility. This is “extremely useful to validate all of our modeling, thrust metrics, sound metrics, everything.”

The company has previously stated that it expects to achieve certification in 2025 and launch commercial services in 2026. Aronoff confirmed that their timeline is in the mid-2020s, although there has been a lot of recent uncertainty around the FAA’s exact process for certification, he noted. However, the FAA “has been very outspoken to say that it will not delay the timeline” for eVTOL certification.

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Joby Receives Part 135 Certificate From FAA Ahead of Schedule

Joby Aviation announced that it has received its Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate from the FAA. This has been “a key priority for Joby’s air operations team,” according to a company representative. (Photo: Joby Aviation)

The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded Joby Aviation a Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate, permitting Joby to begin commercial operations of its electric air taxi. The company originally expected to receive the certificate for its vehicle—an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft—in the second half of this year. Earning the FAA’s Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate is necessary for developers of eVTOL aircraft and uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) in order to begin operations in the U.S.

“Receiving our Part 135 Certificate has been a key priority for Joby’s air operations team,” a representative from Joby told Avionics International, explaining how they achieved this milestone ahead of schedule. “The work on our certificate also fit the FAA’s timing well.”

Joby’s team expects to begin passenger-carrying operations in 2024. After receiving the Part 135 Certificate, the representative shared, they will now place their focus on developing operational experience and validation of their supporting software.

Joby’s second pre-production eVTOL prototype has already performed numerous tests—both flight tests and ground-based taxi testing. This prototype was awarded the FAA’s Special Airworthiness Certification and also received airworthiness approval from the U.S. Air Force. And just a few months ago, in March, Joby announced completion of its first Systems Review and Compliance Review and the FAA’s approval, as well as the start of manufacturing its first production-intent aircraft at its facility in Marina, CA. Joby also shared in March that it had begun the fourth of five stages necessary to receive the Part 135 Certificate. The eVTOL developer initially applied for the certificate in June 2021.

For the remainder of 2022, Joby’s efforts will be geared towards three objectives, the representative explained: aircraft certification, scaling manufacturing, and preparing for commercial operations.

To support Joby’s pursuit of type certification for its aircraft, the company recently announced its acquisition of Avionyx, an aerospace software engineering firm. Through this acquisition, Joby will integrate Avionyx’s team with its own. Avionyx offers Joby extensive experience in software development and verification in accordance with the FAA’s airworthiness standards.

Joby’s spokesperson offered an update on manufacturing of its first production-intent aircraft: “We continue to make good progress with the majority of the large composite parts already manufactured and work underway on the tail and wing structural assemblies.”

“We will use the Part 135 certificate to exercise the operations and customer technology platforms that will underpin our multi-modal ridesharing service,” the representative stated, “while also refining our procedures to ensure seamless journeys for our customers.”

Archer Aviation, another U.S. eVTOL developer, is in the process of working to complete the G-2 Means of Compliance with the FAA. Archer’s team expects to achieve this by the end of 2022. In a letter to shareholders, the company announced last year that “we anticipate receiving our Part 135 Certification, a critical certificate which is required for the commercial operations of our aircraft, in 2024.”

In addition to working towards FAA certification of its aircraft for operations in the U.S., Joby is collaborating with ANA HOLDINGS, the parent company of All Nippon Airways (ANA), to bring eVTOL operations to Japan. The joint efforts were announced earlier this year. Joby and ANA will coordinate for a range of activities including infrastructure development, pilot training, and air traffic management. The collaboration will also explore the regulatory requirements for operating Joby’s eVTOL in Japan.

The post Joby Receives Part 135 Certificate From FAA Ahead of Schedule appeared first on Aviation Today.

AutoFlight Releases Test Flight Footage of Its Second Proof-of-Concept eVTOL

In newly released video footage, AutoFlight demonstrates a successful transition test flight of its second proof-of-concept eVTOL aircraft. (Photo, courtesy of AutoFlight)

The company AutoFlight, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer, released a new video of its Prosperity I vehicle’s full-scale, proof-of-concept test flight last week. Mark Henning, Managing Director of AutoFlight Europe, told Avionics International in an interview that its aircraft have completed more than 200 tests, and the configuration of Prosperity I will be finalized by the end of this year.

“The most important design goal for Prosperity 1 is a very low total cost of ownership,” said Henning. He sees this as one of the key competitive advantages of AutoFlight’s aircraft. All of the components that they procure must be cost-effective, he added. This advantage is also somewhat of a challenge when it comes to deciding what to develop and build in-house at AutoFlight, and what components should be purchased from suppliers. With so many parts, including ten motors on the aircraft—eight for lifting vertically and two for propelling the aircraft forward—it makes a difference if a component costs €10,000 or €20,000, Henning explained.

The Prosperity I has a 200km range, a 180km/hour cruise speed, and the capacity to carry three passengers in addition to a pilot. Their “lift and cruise” configuration is designed to be mechanically simple, “which is important for flight safety, weight, and production cost,” Henning noted. “It’s very low-cost for maintenance—virtually no gears or mechanical components.” In the transition phase, the propellers for vertical lift are switched off and the aircraft enters fixed-wing flight mode.

The proof-of-concept aircraft performs vertical take-off in the above photo, taken from the video footage of the eVTOL’s transition test flight. (Photo courtesy of AutoFlight)

In Shanghai, AutoFlight has a facility for rapid prototyping where they built and flew a proof-of concept (POC) aircraft at the end of 2021. The successful transition test flight of POC #1 was announced in February, making AutoFlight one of the first eVTOL developers to complete a transition flight. Their POC #2 is the model featured in the announcement last week, and the aircraft can be seen completing a full test flight in the accompanying video footage. According to AutoFlight, the updated model includes upgraded lift and cruise configuration, optimized lifting propellers, and enhanced efficiency in hover and cruising modes.

Although the video of AutoFlight’s POC #2 transition test flight was just released last week, the team has performed at least 30 successful flight transitions in the last several weeks. Production of the POC #2 began in January. At that time, AutoFlight also announced the establishment of its first location in Europe. Henning, formerly a manager at Airbus, leads a team at Autoflight’s R&D and certification center in Augsburg, Germany.

“We are now testing a single propeller configuration versus a twin pusher propeller,” Henning shared. “It’s more efficient, lower in weight, and it’s less noisy.”

He noted that their POC aircraft are all built in full-scale configurations for flight testing “because the aerodynamics and loads are not linear. You cannot extrapolate from what you are testing [at subscale] because it’s nonlinear.”

“We are trying to solve society’s transportation problems, and the first markets pushing for AAM/UAM solutions are going to be mega cities,” said Mark Henning, Managing Director of AutoFlight Europe, in discussing where they plan to launch the Prosperity I eVTOL aircraft. (Photo courtesy of AutoFlight)

Once the design configuration is finalized, AutoFlight’s team will apply for type certification with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Says Henning, “The plan is to finish certification at the end of 2025, to field the first aircraft with customers in 2026.” For certification testing, the team will build multiple conforming aircraft prototypes.

AutoFlight’s eVTOL aircraft has a full authority fly-by-wire avionics and flight control system. “These kinds of aircraft have peculiar control laws which have to be implemented and developed ourselves,” Henning explained. They have used both proof-of-concept aircraft to develop the control laws, he continued, that have to be implemented in the flight control system. This is something that all eVTOL developers must complete, he noted, and none have yet certified this kind of system with either EASA or the FAA.

Check out the video featuring the test flight of AutoFlight’s second proof-of-concept eVTOL aircraft below:

The post AutoFlight Releases Test Flight Footage of Its Second Proof-of-Concept eVTOL appeared first on Aviation Today.

US Air Force to Upgrade C-5M Super Galaxy Cockpit Controls and Displays

The largest cargo aircraft in the United States Air Force will undergo an avionics modernization program, including a high-resolution, large area cockpit display system from Intellisense. (Photo courtesy of Intellisense)

The U.S. Air Force is upgrading its fleet of C-5M Super Galaxy Transport aircraft with new cockpit displays under a recently announced contract with Intellisense Systems, a Torrance, California-based supplier of aircraft sensing and display electronics.

According to a June 7 announcement from Intellisense, the contract will provide “Replacement Multi-Function Controls and Displays” (RMCD) for the military cargo transport planes. Intellisense will replace the C-5M’s existing displays with an upgraded version of the video display terminal or VDT-1209s that is currently in operation on the MC-130J.

Some of the details on the upgrade released by Intellisense confirm that the upgrade will be enabled by the PU-3000 multicore avionics computer first introduced by CMC Electronics last year. This selection of the PU-3000 comes a year after it became the industry’s first avionics computer to use multicore processors certified to design assurance level (DAL) A, the highest level of assurance requirements imposed by civil aviation authorities for safety critical aircraft hardware and software.

The video display terminal, VDT-1209, developed by Intellisense, will replace the existing displays on the C-5M fleet. (Photo courtesy of Intellisense)

The existing C-5M cockpit configuration includes six multi-function smart displays that provide the pilot, copilot, and flight engineers with primary flight and navigation information, according to Intellisense. All six displays will be replaced with the company’s large-format 15-inch display and three separate GPU line-replaceable units (LRUs).

There are currently 52 total C-5Ms in operation by the Air Force. At a length of 143 feet and 9 inches, and maximum takeoff weight of 840,000 pounds, it is the third largest aircraft in the world and the largest in the Air Force inventory.

Airmen assigned to the 22nd Airlift Squadron from Travis AFB, Calif., offload 120,000 pounds of cargo from a C-5M Super Galaxy on April 1 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force)

Lockheed Martin first started delivering the C-5M to the Air Force in 1970, and the aircraft has undergone several avionics refresh programs over its 50-year lifespan. The most recent one includes development work that first began in 2014, and continued into the 2020s, with the Air Force’s fiscal 2021 budget request including $50 million dedicated to communication, navigation, and surveillance/air traffic management (CNS/ATM) upgrades, according to previous reporting from Defense Daily, a sister publication to Avionics International.

Jack McParlane, director of business development in Intellisense’s airborne systems department, in a statement, called the C-5M RMCD win “an important step” for the company. “Not only will we be providing a Primary Flight Display for an essential USAF aircraft, but we will also be integrating and delivering the full C-5M cockpit display system, including state-of-the-art, multicore avionics computers from CMC Electronics,” he said. “The program scope further demonstrates our ability to address flight-critical avionics beyond just displays.”

The post US Air Force to Upgrade C-5M Super Galaxy Cockpit Controls and Displays appeared first on Aviation Today.

Inmarsat Tests Signals for United Kingdom Positioning, Navigation and Timing System

A computer-generated rendering of the Inmarsat-3 spacecraft. (Photo, courtesy of Inmarsat)

A team of U.K. companies led by Inmarsat has broadcast a satellite navigation signal in a project to explore a United Kingdom sovereign positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) system. Inmarsat announced Wednesday the signal is stable and operational, enabling on-going testing and validation by industry, regulators, and users.

The United Kingdom is no longer part of Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system after leaving the European Union, and cannot use the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) safety of life services, which provide GPS for airport approach and landing operations for aircraft.

Inmarsat is testing a potential sovereign solution, the UK Space Based Augmentation System (UKSBAS), with British partners Goonhilly Earth Station Limited and GMVNSL Limited. UKSBAS repurposes the SBAS transponder on Inmarsat’s I-3 F5 satellite located at 54 degrees West. Inmarsat announced the project in December 2021.

Inmarsat said UKBAS is designated to provide more precise navigation for maritime and aviation users in U.K. waters and airspace, increasing accuracy in positioning to a few centimeters of accuracy rather than the few meters provided by standard GPS.

Nick Shave, vice president of Strategic Programmes for Inmarsat Global Government said the program allows Inmarsat to extend the live of its I-3 F5 satellite, two decades after its launch.

“We look forward to exploring the potential for this project and the benefits it could deliver to the U.K. with more precise, high-integrity, resilient navigation services, whilst also exploring future capabilities on new satellites through Inmarsat’s fully funded technology roadmap. This work also has the potential to be exported to other nations around the world, benefitting the U.K. economically as well as technologically,” Shave said.

This article was first published by Via Satellite, a sister publication to Avionics International, it has been edited, to view the original version, click here.>>

The post Inmarsat Tests Signals for United Kingdom Positioning, Navigation and Timing System appeared first on Aviation Today.

Raytheon Technologies Moving Global Headquarters To Northern Virginia

Raytheon Technologies on Tuesday, June 7, announced that it will establish its global headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo, courtesy of Raytheon Technologies)

Raytheon Technologies on Tuesday said it will establish its global headquarters in Northern Virginia, close to many of its government customers in the Washington, D.C., area, a move that follows Boeing’s decision a month ago to relocate its corporate headquarters to the region.

Raytheon said it will be moving to Rosslyn, an area of Arlington Virginia across the Potomac River from Washington and the same neighborhood as its Intelligence & Space operating segment. The company is currently headquartered in Waltham, Mass., near Boston. Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Raytheon Missiles & Defense are the four individual business units overseen by Raytheon Technologies Corporation, according to the company’s website.

“The location increases agility in supporting U.S. government and commercial aerospace customers and serves to reinforce partnerships that will progress innovative technologies to advance the industry,” Raytheon said. “Washington, D.C., serves as a convenient travel hub for the company’s global customers and employees.”

Boeing in early May said it would be moving its headquarters from Chicago to Arlington, where its defense business is based. Boeing also said it would create a research and technology hub as well in the Washington area.

General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman are also based in Northern Virginia and Lockheed Martin is headquartered in Bethesda, Md., adjacent to the beltway around Washington. These three companies combined with Boeing and Raytheon make up the five largest U.S. defense contractors.

Raytheon said that it already employs about 130 corporate staff in Rosslyn and doesn’t expect personnel there to increase significantly with the establishment of the new global headquarters. The company will slightly increase its leased space in Rosslyn.

Raytheon has a substantial operational presence in Massachusetts and will maintain its presence in the state and in Waltham. The company said the new global headquarters won’t impact its employee totals in Massachusetts or Virginia.

In the internet era, combined with the workforce shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, many private and public sector employees and leaders have shifted to a hybrid work model that includes home and traditional offices, and some employees are fully remote, with less frequent office visits.

This article was first published by Defense Daily, a sister publication to Avionics International, it has been edited, click here to view the original version.>>

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CoreAVI, DDC-I Target Development of Next Generation Avionics Apps with New RTOS Graphics Platform

(Photo: CoreAVI)

Phoenix, Arizona-based operating systems and software supplier DDC-I, Inc. and CoreAVI, the Tampa, Florida-based provider of safety critical computing, have partnered to introduce a new integrated avionics real-time operating system (RTOS) graphics platform that could accelerate the development of compute and graphics-intensive avionics applications, according to an announcement made by the two companies last month.

The two companies have confirmed that the partnership will target the development of a new integrated avionics RTOS/graphics platform for “high-performance multicore SoCs equipped with on-board graphical processing units (GPUs), including the NXP i.MX 8 and 11th Generation Intel Core i7 (formerly Tiger Lake).” Some of the specific avionics applications that could see accelerated development resulting from the new platform include those requiring data fusion, sense/detect, synthetic vision, graphics, and other advanced control functionality.

By combining DDC-I’s Deos RTOS with CoreAVI’s Vulkan-based VkCoreSC graphics and compute driver portfolio, the partnership combines technologies that both companies have continued to win new avionics embedded development contract awards for in recent years. As an example, Deos was also confirmed by DDC-I to provide RTOS hosting for Honeywell Aerospace’s Anthem cloud-native cockpit system.

First certified to Design Assurance Level (DAL) A in the late 1990s, the Deos RTOS has been used to host DO-178 certifiable avionics software including functions such as air data computers, air data inertial reference units, cockpit video, displays and flight instrumentation, radios, traffic collision avoidance systems, and weather radar, among other systems.

CoreAVI’s Vulkan-based VkCoreSC graphics and compute driver portfolio is based on a subset of Khronos’ Vulkan application programmable interface (API) open standard, and supports applications aligned to DO-178C DAL A. Vulkan can allow itself to receive either graphics or compute commands and allocate them to the correct execution unit in the graphics processing unit (GPU), and then render the result on the display.

Furthermore, the graphics and compute driver portfolio enable avionics developers to implement a full software stack on NXP’s i.MX8 and Intel’s 11th Gen Core i7 application processors.

A block diagram of NXP’s i.MX 8 processor (Photo: NXP)

Neil Stroud, VP of Marketing and Business Development at CoreAVI, commented on the new partnership with DDC-I, noting that avionics developers “targeting emerging SoCs like the i.MX8 and Intel’s 11th Gen Core i7 now have a versatile, high-performance GPU acceleration platform to develop highly converged mission and avionics processing solutions with an accelerated, low risk path to flight safety certification.”

DDC-I and CoreAVI provided a combined set of emailed statements to Avionics International in response to questions about the new partnership, including an explanation of why emerging SoCs like the i.MX8 and Intel’s 11th Gen Core i7 are ideal for developing new graphics-intensive avionics display applications.

“The avionics industry is driven to emerging SoCs such as NXP’s i.MX 8 or Intel’s 11th Gen Core i7 as these SoCs consolidate functions into smaller pieces of silicon for the A&D space. They combine the best of small form factor, performance levels, and power consumption, which allows integrators to use state-of-the-art technology while maintaining strict [size, weight, and power] SWaP requirements,” the representatives said. Printed circuit board (PCB) and system level space is also reduced when SoCs are used due to fewer and higher-density components, according to the two companies.

The new DDC-I and CoreAVI integrated RTOS graphics computing platform could help accelerate the development of graphics-intensive avionics applications, the two companies say. (Photo: CoreAVI)

Further, aside from SWaP optimization, SoCs provide a standardization of processor, I/O, and interconnect targeted for application-specific embedded applications.

“This reduces the level of customization required and level of engineering effort needed to employ an SoC in an avionics system. That is, the hardware and software engineering effort and time to deploy these SoCs is generally lower than to do the same with multiple discrete IC components,” the representatives said. “This cost savings continues through to procurement and manufacturing where consolidating functions onto a single chip reduces the number of components purchased (generally at a lower cost for the SoC and compared to purchasing than multiple discrete ICs) and put into assembly (manufacturing overhead) of the avionics system.”

While neither DDC-I or CoreAVI were able to confirm any specific companies or avionics OEMS they’re providing the new platform for, they did provide a list of the types of companies they believe it could be ideal for.

These include avionics companies developing display or artificial intelligence-based systems. Systems they create include more advanced display and user interfaces, high compute applications such as “sense and avoid,” or AI-based systems determining flight management or various AI military applications, according to the two companies.

The post CoreAVI, DDC-I Target Development of Next Generation Avionics Apps with New RTOS Graphics Platform appeared first on Aviation Today.

Electra Acquires Airflow, Consolidates eSTOL Development

Electra has acquired Airflow, and the combined teams are consolidating efforts to develop an electric short take-off and landing (eSTOL) aircraft. (Photo courtesy of Electra)

In an announcement this week, Electra.aero shared news of its acquisition of the company Airflow. Both companies have developed electric short take-off and landing (eSTOL) aircraft, and Airflow’s eSTOL business will now be consolidated into the Electra brand. Marc Ausman, co-founder and CEO of Airflow—now Chief Product Officer of Electra—believes that working together with Electra will be a much stronger approach for bringing their eSTOL aircraft to market. “We are combining the best of both worlds,” he told Avionics International in an interview, “taking the best of what each company has learned.” The most immediate objective for Electra is to fly a technology demonstrator within the next 12 months.

The teams from both Electra and Airflow had prior experience in developing electric aircraft and working for major aircraft OEMs. Based on that experience, Ausman explained, each company had independently determined that an eSTOL model was the optimal method for bringing electric propulsion to market.

The Electra brand now includes the teams from both Airflow and Electra, and an even larger combined order book—with letters of interest for about 800 aircraft, said Ausman. “Many of the folks from Airflow fill in gaps in the team at Electra,” and vice versa, he added.

Airflow’s existing partnerships offer potential opportunities for growth to Electra. In October 2021, Airflow began partnering with Plug Power, a leading hydrogen fuel cell company. In what Ausman describes as a long-term partnership, the collaborators “are actively developing the technology to bring hydrogen fuel cells and other hydrogen technology to smaller Part 23 aircraft. That helps move us towards our ultimate goal of sustainability.” A key point of consideration in this partnership is determining what the entire product family will look like in the future, he noted.

“We’re really thinking about ways that the aircraft can be used outside of traditional runways.” – Marc Ausman, Chief Product Officer of Electra (Photo courtesy of Airflow)

Another potential area for growth for Electra is moving to an adjacent market, such as the seaplane market. The eSTOL model is well-suited for this specific market, Ausman said. “We’re really thinking about ways that the aircraft can be used outside of traditional runways. We think we can grow significantly [in the seaplane market] and help our customers grow,” he explained.

At the end of last year, Airflow entered into a partnership with Tailwind Air to explore development of an amphibious seaplane powered by distributed electric propulsion. Tailwind’s current fleet, offering a scheduled seaplane service from New York to Boston Harbor, is currently made up of Cessna Caravan amphibious seaplanes.

Another one of Airflow’s existing partnerships is with the company Pipistrel, an electric airplane manufacturer. Pipistrel agreed to supply motors, motor controllers, and batteries for Airflow’s proof-of-concept aircraft, which was intended to be a modified version of an existing fixed-wing design.

Ausman told Avionics that the first launch will be a hybrid electric aircraft. The next generation will be hydrogen electric, “then ultimately, when batteries are good enough, we’ll have a pure battery electric aircraft.” Unless there are any major breakthroughs in the technology, he views battery development as a path of incremental improvements.

The eSTOL model itself will combine aspects from both Airflow’s and Electra’s development programs. Each company found success with certain types of customers, resulting in an order book that is very complementary, Ausman commented. The new Electra team will develop an aircraft with “the broadest market appeal for regional air mobility and urban air mobility.”

Electra hopes to fly a technology demonstrator as soon as possible—in the upcoming year, Ausman shared. Following that, they will work on the pre-production prototype aircraft. Both teams had very similar milestones in mind as they developed their eSTOL aircraft, he added, saying, “We’re combining efforts in terms of what we’ve learned and what customer needs are moving forward—to [achieve] those milestones and be able to fly as soon as we can.”

Electra announced an investment from Lockheed Martin at the beginning of this year to support Electra’s goal of flying a technology demonstrator. In February, the U.S. Air Force awarded Electra a Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract as part of the Agility Prime program, following a $1.5 million investment from the USAF in 2021. In March of this year, the USAF also awarded Electra a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II contract in which Electra will collaborate with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for developing flight control systems to integrate into its eSTOL aircraft.

The post Electra Acquires Airflow, Consolidates eSTOL Development appeared first on Aviation Today.

How Much Value Does In-Flight Connectivity Offer Ultra Low-Cost Carriers?

Colton Snow of Sun Country Airlines shared his thoughts on the value of in-flight connectivity for their airline’s customer base. “Lots of folks travel other airlines for business and expect connectivity,” said Snow. (Photo courtesy of Sun Country)

In-flight connectivity (IFC) topics were a central point of focus during last week’s Connected Aviation Intelligence (CAI) Summit, held in Reston, Virginia. Representatives from Air Canada, Panasonic Avionics, Intelsat Corp, and Stellar Blu Solutions discussed the value of satellite technology for in-flight entertainment (IFE) offerings. Another panel including representatives from Breeze Airways, El Al Airlines, and ST Engineering iDirect featured next-generation strategies for increasing bandwidth to support in-flight connectivity (IFC).

On the final day of the CAI Summit, Colton Snow, Vice President of Product and eCommerce for Sun Country Airlines, delivered the keynote presentation regarding the airline’s current un-connected in-flight passenger experience strategy. There are multiple use cases for IFC, Snow conceded, such as enabling connectivity for the cabin crew to increase aircraft safety and reliability, or for processing on-board transactions and eliminating issues with declined payment methods. However, he said, none of these are compelling enough at this point to drive an investment from Sun Country into the technology.

“In the long-term, there are catalysts that will move us to in-flight connectivity,” Snow explained. One of these is a change in customer expectations. Fewer than 0.5% of passengers from Sun Country mention Wi-Fi in their feedback submitted through surveys. At some point in the future, once more customers include access to IFC in their decision-making criteria, it would justify an investment into the technology.

Colton Snow, Vice President of Product and eCommerce for Sun Country Airlines, delivered the keynote presentation at the CAI Summit on Friday, June 3.

A significant portion of the customer base for Sun Country Airlines is leisure travelers; 97% of the markets served are seasonal. Popular destinations include Aruba, Honolulu, Turks & Caicos, and St. Thomas. For leisure customers, Snow stated, streaming and entertainment cover the bases for their in-flight experience. The target customer demographics for the airline are 46- to 51-year-olds, married, and earning a household income of $97,000 to $107,000. “These customers ultimately care about getting value,” he said. They value low fares and a good in-flight experience. As an ultra low-cost carrier (ULCC), Sun Country has to maintain low costs to ensure low fares. Snow explained, “This creates a high bar for capital intensive investments in the onboard experience, like in-flight connectivity, that may not have a tangible or direct ROI that we can manage or own.”

To compete with other ULCCs such as Allegiant and Frontier, Sun Country aims to balance low fares with a positive in-flight experience by offering a free beverage service, in-seat power, and free streaming of IFE content to passengers’ personal devices. The company had three choices in their approach to IFC and IFE, Snow explained: do nothing, offer streaming of IFE, or offer both IFE and internet access. For leisure travelers that are visiting friends or going on vacation, having Wi-Fi on board does not offer as much value as the option to watch TV or movies while in flight. “Lots of folks travel other airlines for business and expect connectivity,” he added.

“We experimented with in-flight tablets but found they required more maintenance, and most folks prefer to bring their own tech onboard like smartphones, tablets, or laptops,” Brian Davis, chief marketing officer for Sun Country, told Avionics in an emailed statement last year.

The cost of offering in-flight connectivity is also major point of consideration for the airline. With such a strong focus on low fares, the cost passed on to customers for IFC must be minimal. “We would really have to go forward with a strategy where it was baked into the cost of the fare,” Snow remarked in his keynote presentation.

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PODCAST: NSR’s Brad Grady Talks Market Outlook for In-flight Satellite Connectivity Services

Brad Grady, Research Director for Northern Sky Research, is the guest on this episode.

On this episode of the Connected Aviation Intelligence Podcast, we provide a replay of the live presentation given by Brad Grady, Research Director for Northern Sky Research, during the 2022 Connected Aviation Intelligence Summit.

Grady covers a range of different topics from the potential of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks to disrupt the IFC market to airline business models, the impact of the increase in business jet operations and more.

Have suggestions or topics we should focus on in the next episode? Email the host, Woodrow Bellamy, at wbellamy@accessintel.com, or drop him a line on Twitter @WbellamyIIIAC.

Listen to this episode below, or check it out on iTunes or Google Play. If you like the show, subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get new episodes as soon as they’re released.

The post PODCAST: NSR’s Brad Grady Talks Market Outlook for In-flight Satellite Connectivity Services appeared first on Aviation Today.