Beta Technologies unveils first passenger carrying electric aircraft

Beta Technologies unveiled Monday the next electric aircraft in its lineup — a passenger-carrying version of its ALIA vertical takeoff and landing and fixed-wing vehicles.

Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles don’t rely on a runway, whereas fixed-wing aircraft do.

The Vermont-based startup, which has raised over $860 million in equity to date from heavy hitters like Amazon’s The Climate Pledge, is pursuing electric aviation a little differently, and more discreetly, than others in the industry. Unlike competitors Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation, Beta doesn’t want to operate its own urban air taxi network. Rather, Beta has positioned itself as the OEM that will sell aircraft and charging solutions to a host of customers. 

So far, Beta has secured customers across defense, cargo delivery, and medical logistics – like United Therapeutics, UPS, Air New Zealand, and the U.S. Air Force – with a plan to launch in those markets by 2025. Customers like Archer rely on Beta’s charging network, which consists of 34 active sites, with more than 50 sites in progress. 

“Flying passengers has always been a part of the plan,” Kyle Clark, Beta’s founder and CEO, told TechCrunch. “We designed everything in the aircraft from a safety and space configuration standpoint to accommodate passengers. It just made more sense, from a certification and customer acquisition standpoint, to first focus on medical and cargo, and then go to passenger,” he added.

Beta hasn’t yet built a full passenger-carrying prototype, but the concept relies on much of the same design and engineering as Beta’s existing models. Clark says this creates a streamlined path to certification, manufacturing, and commercialization. 

The biggest notable differences are that the passenger variant has more windows so people can look outside, and the interior features five seats plus a cabin for the pilot, a luggage compartment, and “some accouterments for people in the back to be comfortable,” like light switches and ventilation controls, according to Clark.  

All versions will be able to carry around 1,400 pounds, and in some cases they already are. Beta’s aircraft has already tested cargo-carrying missions for the military, and Clark says the startup has more flight hours than any other company in the industry. 

“I contend that we will have tens, if not hundreds, of cargo aircraft flying with tens of thousands of flight hours, generating the most important thing in aviation, which is trust in the safety of the product, before we start flying passengers,” Clark said.

“I believe this strategy will actually have us flying passengers before anybody else because of the trust that we developed and the regulatory path we’ve chosen to get us through those wickets faster.”

Clark estimates that Beta’s aircraft are 13 to 14 months away from Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification. Today, Beta has secured a “market survey ticket,” which allows the startup to fly with potential customers so their pilots can test and evaluate the aircraft. 

And that strategy has already helped secure customers in the passenger arena. On-demand aviation startup Blade, which today helps the wealthy book helicopters or seaplanes to beat the traffic, placed their financially backed order for up to 20 of Beta’s eVTOLs in 2021. Other customers include aviation company LCI, which will use Beta’s aircraft to transport guests to the Aria Hotels in Greece, and Helijet, which has placed a firm order on four eVTOLs with an option to buy four more for cargo and passenger missions. 

Beta is gearing up to fill those orders and more over the next couple years. The company built its first aircraft in a prototype facility, but in January, Beta opened the doors to its production facility in South Burlington. Clark said the FAA has kept a tight watch on production, which means “it’s not rocket fast,” but he expects the facility to produce hundreds of aircraft in the next year and a half. In four years, Clark expects the facility to hit a maximum capacity of 300 aircraft per year. 

Clark is most excited about a future in which electric aviation can bring down the cost of regional flight significantly, allowing people who normally have to drive two to three hours to reach a commercial airport to instead get there within minutes without breaking the bank. 

He noted that short regional flights today are so expensive because jet engine fuel is pricey and so are the recurring maintenance costs for jet engines themselves. 

“When you go from a turbine or jet-powered aircraft to an electric aircraft, you can effectively half the cost of carriage,” Clark said. “That opens up about 10 times more markets for transporting people.”

Correction: A previous version of this article stated Beta had 20 charging sites active based on an old number the company provided to TechCrunch.