Sigma Air Mobility, a Luxaviation Group company and global operator of aircraft and helicopters, is joining VoltAero's efforts to introduce a family of hybrid-electric aircraft.
During the Farnborough Airshow, the French aircraft developer announced that Sigma will help to develop use cases and test the aircraft in various operational environments, with the goal of launching a route demonstration project at a still undetermined location.
VoltAero is developing a trio of aircraft with a parallel electric-hybrid powertrain. The lineup includes the five-seat Cassio 330, the six-seat Cassio 480, and a Cassio 600 model that could seat 10 to 12 passengers. It is starting with the Cassio 330 model and intends to begin flight-testing a full-scale technology demonstrator in 2025. The company hopes to achieve EASA type certification for the Cassio 330 in 2026.
Sigma CEO Christophe Lapierre hinted that his company would order VoltAero aircraft but declined to cite any figures during a briefing on the announcement at the show on Wednesday. "I wouldn't discuss numbers at this stage. We are defining networks and identifying requirements," he said.
"What we are committing to now is the pilot project," he added. "We want to validate the ecosystem and our operation in the first pilot project with the aircraft. That's the milestone we have targeted for 2026. There are a number of markets that we're unifying and checking what is the fleet size that we would need."
Jean Botti, CEO and chief technology officer of VoltAero, said the company has so far received orders for 32 of the Cassio 330 aircraft but added that, rather than discussing hypothetical numbers, eventual certification in 2026 remains uppermost in his mind.
The VoltAero product family promises to develop a unique market niche with aircraft that can fly to a range of 800 nm, surpassing the distance that standard urban air mobility competitors envision.
"We're not even in competition with eVTOLs. I don't want to do the last mile. I want to go 800 miles [using my aircraft]," Botti told reporters at the Farnborough Airshow briefing. "We're already halfway to certification for the Cassio 330."
Japanese motorcycle manufacturer Kawasaki has thrown its weight behind the VoltAero project, contributing dual-use gasoline-hydrogen engine technology, based on its successful motorcycle business, to power the Cassio fleet. “We hope to provide new value to the air industry,” said Kawasaki CEO Hiroshi Ito.