Lyte Aviation is exploring more use cases for its planned 40-seat SkyBus LA-44 VTOL aircraft with new proposals for scheduled flights to connect major cities like Paris with regionals like Twente in the east of the Netherlands. According to the European start-up, its hybrid-electric commuter airliner could bring convenient downtown-to-downtown air service to any number of cities within a radius of 1,000 kilometers (625 miles).
This week, the company launched a regional air service study with Twente Airport, which serves cities including Enschede, close to the border with Germany. The airport, which was formerly a military airbase, currently has no commercial airline service and is trying to reinvent its role to offer “a living lab of sustainable aviation and new forms of mobility.”
According to Lyte Aviation, the SkyBus could give local people a two-hour travel time to the La Défense business district of the French capital, or to any number of cities that might include Munich and Hamburg in Germany or Liverpool and Birmingham in the UK. Currently, to get to Paris from Twente, travelers face a 600-kilometer drive, or awkward rail or air connections via Amsterdam, 175 kilometers away.
“It [the SkyBus] will provide a convenient, affordable, sustainable, and much faster transportation option for employees traveling regularly between sites, allowing Twente-based corporations to reach their respective headquarters, European counterparts, or co-workers in under two hours rather than up to eight hours total travel time today,” said Lyte Aviation founder and CEO Freshta Farzam. “This way, we are disrupting even business aviation, as we are the only ones able to carry up to 40 employees vertically in one SkyBus. And we don’t need runways, we just need a takeoff and landing pad of approximately 40 by 40 meters [131 feet].”
Companies Could Have Their Own Vertiports
Lyte Aviation has chosen the Twente region for its latest pilot project because it is home to major companies including Thales, Sensata Technologies, Malvern PanAlytical, and VDL. The plan calls for landing sites at Twente Airport itself, just two miles outside Enschede, and other vertiports at the offices of participating companies.
“The aviation industry is going through a number of revolutions that will fundamentally challenge how we will travel in the future,” said Twente Airport CEO Jan Schuring. “Our facilities are available as a testing ground for the innovations of the next generation of aircraft, systems, and procedures. Lyte Aviation is a perfect example of a company that is looking to disrupt the status quo; we’re keen to assist them with this endeavor.”
The approach builds on a concept Lyte Aviation announced earlier this year with the Advanced Air Mobility Institute to develop a business case for routes such as from Bainbridge Island to Seattle and Redmond on the Washington state mainland. The partners contrasted the 30 km/h (19 mph) speed of the ferry with SkyBus’s anticipated 300 km/h speed to serve commuters to corporations such as Microsoft.
Lyte Aviation unveiled plans for the tandem tilt-wing design in March 2023 and is working toward type certification and service entry in 2030. The company is also working on a cargo version of the aircraft, called the SkyTruck LA-44C, with a payload of 4.5 tons (9,900 pounds).
Initially, four turboprop engines fitted in pairs to each of the wings will power the aircraft. On each wingtip, a hydrogen fuel cell electric motor will provide additional power. Lyte’s ultimate objective is to rework the aircraft with all-hydrogen propulsion but first, it wants to lay the groundwork for a VTOL model that it believes will transform regional aviation through its ability to bypass existing airports.
According to Farzam, a high-capacity VTOL aircraft with 10 times the passenger capacity of most in-development eVTOL vehicles intended for urban air mobility will deliver greater commercial potential for operators. She said the SkyBus will be far more fuel efficient and quieter than current helicopters, and with much lower operating and maintenance costs.
