A glance at the commercial register shows that Electra.aero Schweiz GmbH was founded just a few weeks ago, located directly at the Aerodrome Langenthal in Bleienbach.
John Langford, founder and CEO of Electra.aero had already been the founder and CEO of Aurora Flight Sciences (now part of Boeing). Not surprisingly, key people in the Swiss subsidiary also come from Aurora Swiss Aerospace, such as Diana Siegel, Director of Strategy.
But what are the key features of their Electra eSTOL? Due to the short take-off and landing capability (STOL) thanks to the high power of the electric motors and the design concept, their hybrid-electric aircraft needs only a few aircraft lengths to take off. With safety margins, we estimate that a field of 100x30m, about the size of a football field, is sufficient for take-off and landing.
Close to the concept of today’s aircrafts and initially piloted, we are convinced that the time to market will be much shorter compared to completely new concepts in the field of Urban Air Mobility and Regional Air Mobility. Thanks to the numerous airports and aerodromes and the partly inefficient mobility on the ground (due to the topography), Switzerland – in our view – is perfectly suited as an early market.
Electra.aero is aiming for further growth and will soon adding new positions in Switzerland in the areas of Software Engineering and Electrical/Mechanical Engineering.
Quite surprisingly, this could turn the calm, rural, uncontrolled aerodrome Langenthal LSPL to a hot spot for sustainable, advanced air mobility.