At the same time, United will enter the startup through its United Airlines Ventures fund. The company that will operate the aircraft for United will then be Mesa Airlines, with which United is cooperating on shorter flights.
Large carriers in particular are coming under increasing pressure to reduce their emissions. Electric planes can be a tool for this, but so far they are limited by a very limited range. According to Heart Aerospace, planes can fly up to 250 miles, or about four hundred kilometers. For example, some smaller regional airports could connect with large hubs, such as Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
“While maintaining lower costs, we can return to more smaller markets that we would not be able to handle with more expensive jet-powered aircraft,” United Airlines Ventures President Mike Leskinen was quoted as saying. Reuters.
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Leskinen believes that initially smaller emission-free electric planes will only be a stepping stone to larger machines. “We do not want to wait for 50-seat, 75-seat, 125-seat aircraft. We want to get involved now, by investing in a company that we think has a technological edge and that will eventually be able to build larger caliber aircraft, ”said Leskinen. His company wants to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
United are not the first company interested in Heart Aerospace, Air Greenland or Widerøe have also considered buying in the past. At the same time, this is not United’s first investment in an electric aircraft company – it has previously invested in Archer. At that time, they became the first major airline to invest in the “project of the future,” as it is sometimes called battery-powered vertical takeoff and landing machines. Archer is scheduled to begin production in 2023, talking about use on routes of up to 100 kilometers and operating speeds of up to 240 kilometers per hour.
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Other companies are also investing in electric aircraft, for example, the shipping giant UPS. In April this year, he announced that he had ordered Alia-250 machines with a vertical start from the American company Beta Technologies. UPS wants to use them mainly in smaller markets as part of its express import service. The aircraft is powered by five propellers, powered by an electric battery.
Like helicopters, the machine allows vertical takeoff and landing, followed by direct flight like a classic aircraft. Unlike helicopters, however, they are designed differently. Instead of a large propeller in the middle of the cabin, they have several smaller propellers on the sides. It has a carrying capacity of over 635 kilograms, can fly at a speed of 273 kilometers per hour and fly 402 kilometers.
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