AIR presents cargo-focused eVTOL aircraft 

AIR (Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.), a mid-size electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft OEM, is expanding into the cargo and logistics market with its unmanned AIR One Cargo eVTOL; the majority of the aircraft is constructed with aluminum, but does feature carbon fiber components. Driven by high market demand and backed by purchase orders, AIR developed the unmanned eVTOLs for cargo use cases, in addition to its manned, “personal use” variant. 

In the last year, the company has secured multiple deals to supply the unmanned version of its flagship eVTOL aircraft, AIR One, for cargo purposes. Concluding 2023 with more than $1 million in revenue, the additional purchase orders have significantly boosted the company’s revenue projections for 2024 and 2025. Having already successfully delivered its first cargo aircraft, AIR is set to continue fulfilling the purchase orders for the remaining AIR One Cargo units throughout 2024 and the first half of 2025.

AIR One Cargo is said to bolster the maturation of AIR’s products and design concepts, contributing valuable flight hours toward safety verification. Additionally, the cargo aircraft aids in achieving scaled production volume, leveraging AIR’s automotive-based production line, methodologies and automated manufacturing systems.

“Venturing into this new market with AIR One Cargo is a testament to our commitment to the integration of eVTOLs into all spheres of daily life, for a variety of use cases,” notes Rani Plaut, CEO and co-founder of AIR. “We expanded our offerings in response to strong market demand, and the feedback we’ve already received affirms that AIR One’s robust capabilities and simple, cost-effective design make it an agile platform able to scale across different uses.”

Capable of taking off and landing vertically while carrying a 550-pound (250-kilogram) payload, the all-electric AIR One Cargo offers a practical long range on a single charge at speeds comparable to the manned passenger variant of AIR One.

This offering marks the latest milestone for AIR, which announced its participation in the U.S. Air Force’s AFWERX Agility Prime program in December 2023 to drive flight testing and additional R&D efforts in the U.S. AIR is continuing to amass flight test hours with its full-scale prototypes after successfully proving all phases of flight.

With 1,170 AIR One vehicles for personal use already reserved via preorder and a waiting list, AIR plans to deliver the first batch of aircraft to consumers following aircraft certification.