Ghenus Air orders 10 aircraft from Lyte Aviation
LYTE Aviation has received a pre-order for 10 aircraft from Ghenus Air for use in their US and Korean markets.
With a delivery time of 5-6 years, the preorder represents the second deal of this type for LYTE following on from VMan Aviation Services’ purchase of 10 aircraft last year.
Ghenus Air has also pre ordered 20 eVTOL aircraft from Plana, 20 UAVs from Traverse Aero and 50 aircraft from Odys Aviation. Ghenus’s 10 pre-orders with LYTE are for its 40 seater eVTOL LA-44, the SkyBus, its cargo variant, the SkyTruck LA-44C, and its 19 seater prime variant, the LA-44 X Prime.
Ghenus Air is expanding its door-to-door market for corporate executives and business owners. Joseph Kim CEO said: “There are thousands of regional airports worldwide, most of them underutilised. In the United States, 90% of people live within a 30-minute drive of a regional airport, compared with 60% for a commercial airport. This existing capacity of underutilised airports could support a growing RAM [regional air mobility] market with less investment and ramp-up time than other new modes of transport such as UAM.”
LYTE’s SkyBus offers a range of 620 miles (1,000 km) with a max speed of 190 mph (300 km/hr). A full-scale prototype is being planned within 24 months, and serial production within 5-6 years.
Freshta Farzam, CEO & Founder LYTE Aviation said: “It is an honour for us to get so well appreciated and supported in the aviation industry. Within only one year, we are collaborating in over 19 cities in four continents and now we have received in total 20 preorders worth, in total, €800m during concept phase. Imagine, the 2000 preorders we are warming up now once we have our prototype ready.”
“This pre-order comes at a great timing for us, as we are expanding our portfolio,” added Farzam. “Now with the huge demand in business aviation we are introducing our 19 seater LA-44 X Prime version. We are currently designing the interiors of our prime version, varying from large meeting rooms in the sky that will take off right at your corporate’s door step, no runways required anymore, up to spacious solutions for families for a flight duration of 2-3 hours, taking off right at their home doorsteps.”
Ghenus sees “high potential” in the Korean and US regional air mobility markets. Kim explained: “In the United States, there is ample marketability for regional air service utilising underutilised regional airports. And since Korea is pursuing a hydrogen economy, the use of hydrogen-based SkyBus and SkyTruck is expected to not only be symbolic but also make a significant contribution to improving the profitability of local airports that are suffering huge losses.”
