As part of its preparations to launch electric-aircraft taxi service in the Los Angeles area in 2021, Quantum Air recently launched a partnership to train new pilots with OSM Aviation. Training will be conducted in Bye Aerospace’s new two-seat eFlyer 2 aircraft.
Quantum intends to use Bye's four-seat eFlyer 4 model for its taxi services. It says services will begin during 2021, but the company is not due to start taking deliveries until the end of next year.
According to Quantum Air, the training course will prepare ab initio pilots for service in between 12 and 20 months. This implies that it intends to start taxi operations with pilots who are already qualified to fly commercially. The California-based company has been preparing to launch air-taxi operations using Los Angeles-area airports for seven years.
OSM is based in Norway and has training facilities in San Diego, California; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Sweden. The company will train pilots specifically to fit in with Quantum’s operating model.
Quantum confirmed its order in October 2019, placing an undisclosed deposit with Bye Aerospace covering 22 eFlyer 4s and 2 eFlyer 2s. In May 2019, OSM signed a purchase agreement for 60 eFlyer 2s. Deliveries to both companies are due to start in late 2021.
According to Bye Aerospace, the eFlyer 2 will cost only $20 per hour to operate, compared with around $110 per hour for a conventional trainer aircraft.
"The operating costs of electric propulsion are so dramatically lower than thermal propulsion [i.e., jet-A-powered engines] that operators will be able to force behavior which is traditionally very difficult to force in business: customer switching,” commented Quantum founder and CEO Tony Thompson. “Electric-aircraft operators will force passengers to switch out of 737s and into regional electric aircraft, and [urban air mobility] operators will be able to force commuters to switch out of their cars and into commuter electric aircraft. There can be no doubt that the economics of electric aviation will fundamentally restructure commercial aviation and even other modes of mobility."