Aura Aero has more than 650 preorders for its ERA hybrid regional airliner.
French startup Aura Aero has received $200 million in financing from the state of Florida to build out a 500,000-ft.2 assembly plant dedicated to producing its planned 19-seat hybrid electric ERA regional aircraft.
Provided by Space Florida, the financing will support up to 1,000 jobs in Daytona Beach and Volusia County, according to Aura Aero, which has also elected to build its U.S. headquarters in South Florida, complementing its European headquarters in Toulouse.
Aura Aero this month will open a 10,000-ft.2 hangar, housed at Embry Riddle Research Park, and financed by a separate $3.4 million grant from Space Florida. The hangar will be used to host the stateside assembly, delivery and customer support activities for the startup’s Integral family of two-seat trainers.
The Integral family’s first member, the conventionally-powered, tailwheel-configured Integral R, has already been certified by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) under CS-23 rules, and is now being “fast-tracked” by the FAA, Aura Aero says. With a retail price of $495,000, the aircraft features two side-by-side seats, an airbag, a 210-hp Lycoming engine with an electronic ignition, airframe parachute and Garmin avionics.
The new hangar will also house two prototypes of the Integral E, the all-electric version powered by batteries and a 50-kW Safran ENGINeUS electric motor. The prototypes will be used in the company’s flight test campaign in southern Florida, ahead of expected type certification in 2027, the company says.
The announcement of the Florida expansion came during the Paris Air Show, where Aura Aero is showcasing its Integral E, as well as the conventionally-powered, nosewheel-configured Integral S.
Also at the air show, the company announced more than 100 conditional orders for the 19-passenger ERA from five operators, lifting its orderbook past 650 aircraft, or a nominal value of $10.5 billion.
Separately, Aura Aero announced a partnership with French aviation services company Amelia to explore the creation of a regional airline network in Europe using the ERA hybrid airliner.
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