Republic Airways has agreed to buy at least one example of Beta Technologies’ Alia CX300 electric airplane and will use it to train its pilots and conduct route planning. Under a memorandum of understanding announced on Monday at the Paris Air Show, the carrier is set to take delivery of the first aircraft—under special airworthiness certificate rules—in the fourth quarter, with options to add more examples as its plans for commercial services are firmed up.
The CX300 operates in conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) mode, with Beta also working on the Alia 250, an eVTOL version. The company, which has already opened its manufacturing facility in Burlington, Vermont, is taking this approach with a view to getting the CX300 certified in 2026.
“The CTOL aircraft will get well established [in the market] by operating commercial flights sooner [than rival eVTOL models],” Beta founder and CEO Kyle Clark told reporters. “I’m confident we’ll get there first. The VTOL aircraft is just the same [as the CX300]; you’re just adopting a really good flap setting.”
Beta is now earning testing credits for FAA certification by conducting extensive, real-world flights under a market survey provision permitted by the special airworthiness certificate rules. The Alia model that will open the flying display each day at the Paris Air Show this week is conducting a European tour that started at Shannon on the west coast of Ireland and will end in July when the aircraft is delivered to launch customer Bristow in Norway. The helicopter operator will conduct six months of flight trials.
According to Clark, the CX300 is expected to operate cargo services before progressing to passenger operations that could include routes that are not commercially viable with current aircraft. Initial versions will carry four passengers, but Beta believes subsequent models could be larger with between six and eight seats.
During a recent 45-minute flight from East Hampton to New York John F. Kennedy International Airport, an Alia aircraft consumed $7 worth of electrical power versus several hundred dollars worth of fuel in a helicopter, according to Beta. Republic president and chief commercial officer Matt Koscal was a passenger on that flight.
Later this year, Beta plans to deliver another example of the Alia to Air New Zealand. The company also offers customers its “Charge Cube” equipment, which can recharge the aircraft in under an hour.