Lyte Aviation: SkyBus creator’s ‘all-or-nothing approach’ to future mobility
Previously labeled as a “dreamer”, Lyte Aviation’s founder, Freshta Farzam is taking an “all or nothing” approach to future mobility.
Farzam is the creator of the SkyTruck or SkyBus, Lyte Aviation’s 40-seat VTOL, announced last month at Helicopter Investor London 2023. “They used to call me a dreamer; whenever I came with bold ideas on how to scale up existing technologies,” said Farzam. “Then I understood that it is all about my own mindset to adjust first. Then I will attract the right collaborators on my journey. So, I jumped on the horse myself and researched and created for the last three years, with an absolutely amazing team, a solution, that, will definitely hit a nerve in several industries.”
Remaining in stealth mode for the past three years has not been easy. Last month Lyte Aviation stepped into the public eye with the announcement of two early strategic partners — Inmarsat and Inflight Canada. Farzam is both “proud and grateful” to see that the industry is always looking to collaborate with innovations, she believes, will become the next unicorns.
“Inmarsat and Inflight Canada have one thing in common: both have courage to enter an unknown sphere, a heavyweight eVTOL with us, because they immediately saw the gigantic impact of disruption a SkyTruck or SkyBus will have in the entire mobility & infrastructure market. There will be more partners to be announced soon,” she said.
Disruption in the aviation industry is rare, according to Farzam. But when it does happen the impact is quick to take effect. “Not much has been disrupted or changed the last 70 years. Until the first drones and eVTOLs came out! And now, it is a billion dollar industry within a few years only.”
Farzam said she was fascinated to see that the market is finally ready to support air taxis. “That is when the first seeds were laid in my mind: ‘Why not a SkyBus? Or a SkyTruck?’ A plane still works mainly on similar mature technology as do the helicopters, for the last half a century. With all due respect, and I am absolutely grateful for them as a pilot-student to be able to fly or to commute quickly from country to country with a plane or helicopter, but it is time to give the air travel a next-level disruption because the markets are ready now,” says Farzam.
How will Lyte Aviation do that? “We will follow the vision of bringing rural closer to urban, just like a hyperloop, and disrupt the mass transit, but without the need of drilling holes into our planet,” said Farzam. “We will follow the vision of delivering goods three times faster and with greater fuel efficiency than a helicopter and thus, not only disrupt the speed and frequency of delivery, but with that we will even disrupt how goods can be even amended in the future to take advantage of much faster delivery opportunities.”
With a 1,000km (540nm) range and top speed of 300km/h (186mph), the SkyBus and SkyTruck are anticipated to enter commercial service in the early-to-mid 2030s.
