Story ID: 
Malaysian Flight School Orders VoltAero's Cassio 330
By: Charles Alcock
Caption: HM Aerospace could take up to 30 of the aircraft to train pilots
Word Count: 221
Malaysian flight school HM Aerospace has agreed to buy 15 of VoltAero’s Cassio 330 hybrid-electric aircraft. The deal signed on June 18 at the Paris Air Show also covers options for another 15 examples and is subject to the French manufacturer achieving EASA type certification with validation by Malaysia’s civil aviation authorities.
Over the past 20 years, HM Aerospace, which is part of the Halim Mazmin Group, has graduated around 2,400 professional pilots. The company said that its agreement with VoltAero could support a wider ecosystem for hybrid-electric aviation in Malaysia and the Asia-Pacific region.
At the Paris Air Show, VoltAero displayed a full-scale mock-up of the revised design for the Cassio 330, which now features a series hybrid propulsion system and with a T-tail replacing the earlier twin boom configuration. The company, which is aiming to achieving type certification under CS23 rules in 2027, is also developing the larger Cassio 480 and 600 models. The aircraft have a pair of pusher propellers on each side of the aft fuselage.
VoltAero has established a manufacturing facility at Rochefort Airport in the southwest of France. The Nouvelle-Aquitaine regional government was one of its original financial backers.
The deal with HM Aerospace takes VoltAero’s backlog of provisional orders to 280. Other customers intend to use the aircraft for regional air services.