EVTOLS • ANALYSIS
Business aviation is where AAM will plant roots
Business aviation has always been a test bed for aerospace innovation. So what role will it play in scaling commercial electric aviation? Words: Yves Le Marquand
The Charge Cube is a self-contained, Level 3 -DC Fast Charger for use with vehicles including aircraft, cars, buses, trucks and vans.
EVTOLS • ANALYSIS
Business aviation is where AAM will plant roots
Business aviation has always been a test bed for aerospace innovation. So what role will it play in scaling commercial electric aviation? Words: Yves Le Marquand
The Charge Cube is a self-contained, Level 3 -DC Fast Charger for use with vehicles including aircraft, cars, buses, trucks and vans.
“THE INDUSTRY IS an incubator of technology; we have always sought to be more efficient and to fly less expensively,” said Kurt Edwards, director general, IBAC at our CJI London conference in February. “We are the first to introduce new technologies into the broad industry. Those winglets you see on the tips of aircraft wings were first put on a business jet in 1976. Avionics and glass cockpits, which allow aircraft to fly more directly, that was business aviation too. Developments that take place in our industry first, spread and improve the total air transport system.”
Using that logic, it follows business aviation may have a key role to play in scaling up electric flight and advanced air mobility (AAM), particularly for operations. Recent agreements between established business aviation fixed-based operators (FBOs) and leading electric aircraft developers show stakeholders in both industries feel similarly. Clay Lacy has reached agreements with Joby and Overair. Atlantic has announced deals with BETA, Joby and Archer. BETA also recently announced a deal with Signature Aviation, the world’s largest private aviation terminal operator, to install chargers at several on-airport locations across the US east coast. This follows a similar deal announced between BETA and AvFlight in February.
Then there is the regulatory framework, which will enable initial operations of eVTOLs and other electric aircraft in the US to be operated as Part 135 flights. These are conducted under Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) guidelines relevant to non-scheduled, commercial aircraft operations, i.e. business aviation.
“You won’t see these aircraft go into Part 121 – they will operate under Part 135, which has been our centrepiece as an industry,” says Chris Rocheleau, chief operating officer, National Business Aviation Association (NBAA). “I understand there has been a lot of news coverage about these partnerships with United, Delta, American, etc,” he adds. “But the short of it is, the regulatory framework that will enable AAM is Part 135, and that is business aviation-oriented. It’s one of three reasons why Clay Lacy Aviation has stepped in to be a leader in this segment.”
Also, battery-electric aircraft – with vertical take-off capability or otherwise – achieve meaningful distances with today’s technology only by carrying a lighter payload and/or fewer passengers than an equivalent, conventional or hybrid-powered aircraft. This means initial electric aircraft are well suited to the needs of private aviation in terms of payload. Although lacking in range, they have a niche (as well as existing demand), supplementing today’s business aircraft for shorter regional missions.
BETA's Charge Cube has just been certified by Underwriter's Laboratory. This is a globally recognised safety standards body.
A rendering of what an Atlantic Aviation FBO of the future could look like once its partnership with Archer has developed.
Advertisement - article continues below
“Thinking about how these aircraft will operate, it will be short local or regional connectivity, due to the range at present,” Rocheleau notes. “We like to say at NBAA that you have the commercial airlines connecting 500 airports around the country, but in business aviation we provide access to 5,000,” he says.
“Business aviation will play a pivotal role in the adoption of AAM,” Scott Cutshall, senior vice president, Strategy & Sustainability at Clay Lacy tells us. “The reason being, I believe AAM will begin at existing airports because the airspace and the infrastructure, for the most part, other than charging, already exists.
“From a community acceptance standpoint and from an airspace standpoint, airports are there to arrive and depart aircraft. So, once we have some certified aircraft in the general aviation community, business aviation is where AAM will plant its roots.”
Clay Lacy began operations as an on-demand jet charter operator at Van Nuys Airport, California (CA) in 1968, before launching the first all-jet FBO in 1981. Cutshall believes FBOs are ideally situated and will play a significant role in the early adoption of AAM. “The reason is FBOs exist to serve general aviation aircraft at airports. When these aircraft are certified, they will be general aviation aircraft and will have all the same accommodations as any other aircraft – fuelling, ground handling, connections with ground transportation etc.”
As noted earlier, the FBO already has much of the necessary infrastructure to accommodate AAM aircraft. Cutshall says Clay Lacy is approaching AAM in much the same way as any other new fleet addition, the only difference is the fuel type. In January it announced a deal with Joby to install Southern California’s first electric air taxi charger at John Wayne Airport, Orange County, CA. Later in the month it also announced a deal with Overair to introduce AAM operations throughout Southern California.
“There are a number of AAM companies that have identified the Southern California region as one of their launch markets. We have two wonderful FBOs in the region at Van Nuys, Los Angeles and John Wayne Airport in Orange County,” says Cutshall.
“Our purpose currently is to provide that electrical charging infrastructure to enable the start of this industry,” he adds. “These aircraft can’t fly if they can’t fuel. Electricity is the fuel. So, Clay Lacy’s goal is to provide that fuel at our facilities.”
Clay Lacy has enough power capacity for two high-capacity simultaneous charging pads. Construction is due to begin in the second quarter of 2024 on the infrastructure at John Wayne Airport. This is positive news as power challenges have caused delays to the rollout of chargers as grid capacity catches up, especially in the automotive industry. The one obstacle preventing Clay Lacy from installing electric aircraft charging infrastructure at its Van Nuys Airport FBO is a moratorium implemented by Los Angeles City Council in March, which restrict development at the entire airport. Cutshall says this is something the airport community is working to resolve with the council, and he is hopeful of a resolution.
“I believe AMM will begin at existing airports because the airspace and infrastructure already exists.”
Scott Cutshall, Clay Lacy
BETA is developing two versions of its aircraft, a CTOL and a VTOL.
Archer plans to use its air taxi to replace 60- to 90-minute commutes by car with flights around 10- to 20-minutes.
The inside of an eVTOL looks like no aircraft ever has. Midnight's interior resembles that of an electric SUV.
“You won’t see these aircraft go into Part 121 – they will operate under Part 135.”
Chris Rocheleau, NBAA
German OEM Volocopter demonstrated its 2X aircraft alongside Joby in New York last year. The city aims to reshape its heliports to welcome eVTOLs.
“You won’t see these aircraft go into Part 121 – they will operate under Part 135.”
Chris Rocheleau, NBAA
German OEM Volocopter demonstrated its 2X aircraft alongside Joby in New York last year. The city aims to reshape its heliports to welcome eVTOLs.
Business aviation players getting into the AAM market today are a sign of things to come, according to David Shilliday, vice president and general manager, Advanced Air Mobility at Honeywell. As a global tier one supplier, Honeywell components can be found in almost every aircraft. The same goes for AAM platforms too. Honeywell has announced partnerships with electric aircraft OEMs such as Archer, Lilium and Heart Aerospace.
“You won’t see these aircraft go into Part 121 – they will operate under Part 135.”
Chris Rocheleau, NBAA
“I like to think about how FBOs will support operations at EIS and how they will evolve as the operations scale. What does that mix of aircraft look like and what are the missions they are going to serve?” says Shilliday. “FBOs are getting ready by leveraging existing infrastructure; fleet operators are also getting ready and OEMs are trying to work out the right mix of solutions they need to support all their customers. People are still going to want to fly long distances and these aircraft are not yet equipped for that, so you are going to need a mix of traditional and new."
Business aviation’s customer base also lends itself to initial AAM operations. Clay Lacy’s Cutshall says there has been a lot of talk about “long-term vision”, but he likes to think of AAM in terms of “near-term, mid-term and long-term vision”.
“As you progress along that timeline in the near term, there will be fewer operations and there will be fewer aircraft. Therefore, the price point will be higher,” he explains. “So the most likely people to fly on electric aircraft, eVTOLs in particular, as the industry begins will be business aviation users. As more aircraft are delivered, and as more charging infrastructure and vertiports get built and co-location of vertiports with transportation hubs gets built over the coming decades, that price point will come down making travel by AAM a reality for even more users.”
As the industry scales, Cutshall expects to see a slight move away from traditional FBO models for AAM in favour of larger vertiports co-located with other modes of transportation.
NBAA’s Rocheleau agrees. He highlights a vision of the growth potential for AAM firms like Supernal. “They’re forecasting that they will manufacture a lot of these aircraft, and that is where the price point really begins to become much more normal for regular travellers like me or you. Say, for example, I want to go from Virginia to Washington, DC, in the morning and don’t mind paying $50-$100, because I have an important meeting to get to. You watch – once this segment proves itself to be safe and affordable, I believe it is going to expand nicely across the world.”
Joby and its partner Delta are working closely with the Port Authority of New York and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) as they plan for operations.
Joby and its partner Delta are working closely with the Port Authority of New York and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) as they plan for operations.
Advertisement - article continues below
Regional opportunities
Munich-based start-up VÆRIDION has singled out business aviation as a key target entry market for its nine-passenger battery-electric aircraft – the Microliner. Co-founder and CEO, Ivor van Dartel says he concluded such an aircraft size would be within the realms of possibility back when studying at the Delft University of Technology, while working for Airbus. There he learned two things: electric flight is much easier on a smaller scale and new propulsion is better suited to a newly designed aero structure.
“I quit my job and asked my friend and colleague Sebastien to join me. We then collected initial funding from venture capital investors and came up with the size of the plane because of three angles. First, physics. We believe that if you have pure battery-electric aircraft, you can’t go much bigger than what is essentially a general aviation aircraft. So, we think nine seats is feasible. But 19 seats are still a little bit too far away,” van Dartel tells us.
The second point is regulatory. If an aircraft holds nine seats or below, it still qualifies for level three of CS23 – European Union Aviation Safety’s (EASA’s) regulation for normal, utility, aerobatic and commuter aeroplanes. Anything above that becomes a level four, which is a considerably bigger certification effort, says van Dartel.
Thirdly, the firm sees a unit economic advantage with a nine-seater. Van Dartel thinks its price point should compete in a very non-business aviation-like way with a regional airliner such as an ATR 42 or similar aircraft. Having a nine-seater aircraft enables VÆRIDION to open up thinner routes where filling the 40 seats on a regular basis, if at all, is not possible.
VÆRIDION has cooperation agreements with Danish charter operators Copenhagen AirTaxi and Copenhagen Helicopter. The firms plan to test Microliner on the Copenhagen to Læsø route (an island in the north of Denmark).
Van Dartel completed his first study on electric aircraft 17 years ago. “Back then, there was the big promise of lithium sulphur that would get us to 500 watt hours per kilogramme and that would come online in 2010,” he says. While there are lithium sulphur cells that flew on unmanned platforms, none have made a breakthrough.
“We believe if you have pure battery-electric aircraft ... we think nine seats is feasible”
Ivor van Dartel – VÆRIDION
“We have now lithium-ion NMC [nickel, manganese and cobalt] cells out there in the higher 300 or even 400 range in the lab stage,” says van Dartel. “We also found that if you optimise for aerodynamics and weight, our current generation of battery technology is good enough to have a meaningful range of up to 500km IFR [Instrument Flight Rules].”
Væridion's high-aspect-ratio wing provides minimum cruise drag and a high glide ratio. The batteries are also integrated into the wing.
Regulatory, technology and customer-base factors aside, the business aviation community, especially from an association standpoint, is ready and willing to help scale AAM and electric flight in general. Collaboration across many parties has often been key to getting new technologies off the ground. Rocheleau, at NBAA, explains: “No matter the concept – whether we’re talking about regional air mobility or flying from 30th Street Heliport down to JFK – we’re able to help because of the expansiveness of our own operations and advocacy work. I think we are going to see the success of early operations build quickly upon itself.”
Rocheleau adds: “Many of us – thinking about the rollout of some of the next generation materials that have made their way into the US National Airspace System – have tackled similar challenges before. So, there is the ability to help educate, shape perceptions and bring people together.”
