United Parcel Service and its UPS Flight Forward subsidiary, a “drone airline” that in October 2019 received Part 135 certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration, have signed to buy up to 150 piloted eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft from Vermont-based Beta Technologies, the companies revealed in a statement.
Deliveries of the first ten Beta aircraft are scheduled to begin in 2024, with the agreement including an option for UPS to purchase up to 150 of them.
UPS plans to use the eVTOL aircraft to “augment its air service for select small and mid-size markets” in order to transport time-sensitive deliveries that would otherwise fly on small fixed-wing aircraft.
Instead of depending on airports, the fully electric aircraft, which “can charge in an hour or less and produce zero operational emissions,” will take off and land on-property at UPS facilities, creating a “micro air feeder network without the noise or operating emissions of traditional aircraft,” Beta founder and CEO Kyle Clark said in the April 7 statement.
The aircraft will have a 250-mile (400-kilometre) range, a cruising speed of up to 170 miles per hour (274 km/h), and a cargo capacity of 1,400 pounds (635 kilograms).
With them, “UPS will be able to plan a series of short routes, or one long route, on a single charge to meet customers’ needs.” It expects its new fleet to benefit healthcare providers, small and medium-sized businesses, and other companies in smaller communities. UPS did not disclose the value of the deal.
As it pushes into the cargo market, Beta Technologies has already signed contracts with United Therapeutics, the developer’s launch customer, and the United States Air Force (MC, Washington National) via the latter’s Agility Prime program which seeks to accelerate the commercial market for air mobility vehicles.
The name of the eVTOL aircraft UPS will buy was not mentioned in the release, but Beta Technologies has been conducting flight tests for its Alia-250 prototype that uses four lifting propellers for vertical take-offs and landings and a rear-mounted pusher propeller for cruising.
