Eviation has shaken up its leadership team while the company’s all-electric Alice commuter airplane is undergoing a redesign. The Arlington, Washington-based aircraft developer has appointed Andre Stein, co-founder and former CEO of Eve Air Mobility, as its new CEO. Former Cirrus and Gulfstream executive Jeff Hurford is assuming the role of chief financial officer.
Gregory Davis, who joined Eviation as president in May 2021 and took on the added role of CEO one year later, “is stepping away from the company to pursue a new chapter in his career,” a company spokesperson told AIN, adding that Davis is “assisting with the transition.”
Davis had taken over as CEO after the company’s co-founder and former CEO Omer Bar-Yohay stepped down from the position in February. At the time, Bar-Yohay said his decision was the result of “a long-standing disagreement with the company's main shareholder”—referring to Singapore-based Clermont Group, which also owns Eviation’s propulsion system supplier MagniX.
Stein served as CEO of Eve, the advanced air mobility subsidiary of Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer, from its founding in October 2020 until the end of 2023. He has held multiple leadership positions at Embraer over the course of his 25-year career with the company.
Meanwhile, Hurford has has held senior financial and program management roles at various aerospace companies, including 19 years with business jet manufacturer Gulfstream Aerospace and short stints with Lilium and Aerotec. He most recently worked with Cirrus Aircraft as platform director for the SR1X program.
The news of Eviation’s latest leadership shakeup comes 16 months after the company’s Alice prototype made its debut flight in Moses Lake, Washington. Although Eviation touted the inaugural flight as a success, the company has yet to perform any subsequent flight testing.
Last summer Eviation announced that it had outsourced the design work for the nine-seat Alice to Seattle-based engineering firm TLG Aerospace, which is developing the production configuration. Davis previously told AIN that Eviation intends to roll out one additional pre-production prototype and two production-conforming aircraft, which it will use for FAA type certification testing, in the next year or two. Eviation aims to have the Alice certified under the FAA’s Part 23 rules by 2027.
Despite the lack of any apparent progress on the design and certification of the Alice, Eviation’s order backlog has continued to swell and now exceeds $5 billion, according to Eviation. Most recently, German regional airline start-up Flyvbird signed a letter of intent in October for the purchase of 25 Alice aircraft, following an order from South Korean leasing company Solyu for another 25 units.
Other prospective operators include UK-based aircraft leasing group Monte, DHL Express, Massachusetts-based regional airline Cape Air, Australia’s Northern Territory Air Service, Air New Zealand, Mexican regional airline Aerus, German regional airline Evia Aero, and Miami-based charter and cargo flight provider GlobalX.
