BETA, Republic Airways prepare for cargo air taxi service in Florida
By the end of the year, the first commercial air taxi service could be underway. Vermont aircraft manufacturer BETA Technologies and Republic Airways regional airline last month announced plans to begin limited commercial cargo flights in Florida in the coming months, as a precursor to passenger service.
To prepare, BETA in May flew one of its electric conventional takeoff and landing aircraft, an ALIA CX300, for six days from a base at Kissimmee Gateway Airport, a small municipal reliever airport about 19 kilometers from Orlando International.
Florida’s need for regional transport, plus the state’s preparation and public funding for networks of charging stations or vertiports, made it a natural early market for air taxi service, said Simon Newitt, BETA’s global sales head.
“We’re ready to go. We’ve got the aircraft, and here’s one of them,” Newitt told me during a May 18 event in Orlando, where the company showed off the ALIA that conducted the Florida flight tests.
BETA is one of four companies named by the U.S. Department of Transportation as participating in Florida’s portion of the planned eIPP program (eVTOL Integration Pilot Program) to demonstrate electric aircraft services starting this year. The others are Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation of California and Electra of Virginia.
“The demand in Florida is obvious for passenger flights, especially in the I-4 corridor between Orlando and Tampa, to get over the bottlenecks on I-4,” Newitt said. “We’re going to start with the cargo and medical supply transport. That’s the first play, and then we go for passengers.”
For two days of the May flight tests, an ALIA flew nine legs per day from Kissimmee, about 65 km and back. That flight plan was chosen because it is the only Central Florida location with full-service BETA charging and cooling stations.
That distance was to simulate a journey of 130 km to regional destinations like Ocala or Gainesville, said Charles Cope, director of flight operations for Brickyard Connection, a Republic subsidiary. The purpose was to demonstrate quick battery charge and service in the hot and humid Florida weather, while also monitoring air conditioner performance, rubber tire temperature and more, Cope told me.
He said the company was pleased with the results of test flights and believes the end-of-year target for beginning service remains feasible. However, he said he and others still need to analyze more of the flight data.
“We’re trying to find key markets early, and some of the northern markets have to deal with blizzards or ice, but Florida is a great environment other than thunderstorms,” Cope said.
