Future flight: Quantum leap

Quantum previously signed a purchase agreement for 22 eFlyer 4 models and two eFlyer 2 aircraft. The company’s leadership visited the aircraft maker’s Denver headquarters to meet Bye’s executive and engineering team and to view the operation of an eFlyer prototype, he said.

A joint news release during the National Business Aviation Association convention and exhibition hailed the agreement as a cornerstone “to launch the coming urban air mobility revolution.” Quantum CEO Tony Thompson said he plans to operate “a fleet of hundreds of aircraft” in a push to “make local and point-to-point air transportation a reality.”

Quantum’s multi-modal aeromobility fleet will include “electric and hybrid-electric aircraft, fixed-wing and rotary aircraft, land and sea aircraft,” he said. “This transaction cements Bye Aerospace’s status as the foremost electric aircraft manufacturer, and Quantum’s status as the foremost aeromobility operator, in the nation.”

The eFlyer 2 has a base price of $349,000, and the eFlyer 4 a base price of $449,000. The typically equipped aircraft will sell for $400,000 and $520,000, respectively, Bye said. He also hinted about plans for an “upcoming and not yet announced eFlyer X—a pressurized, retract gear version of the eFlyer 4.”

A 90-kilowatt electric motor that develops approximately 115 horsepower can push the composite eFlyer 2 to 135 knots, Bye said in May 2019. The low-wing aircraft will be outfitted with Garmin G3X Touch avionics and is expected to be certified in early 2021 for flight under Part 23 of the federal aviation regulations.

The zero-emission aircraft has drawn international attention as well. OSM Aviation Group, a Norwegian flight academy, ordered 60 eFlyer2 aircraft.

Email [email protected]