TAC in Dubai to ‘highlight rapid progress’ of Pangea aircraft

The AirCraft Company (TAC) is at the Dubai Airshow 2025 to highlight rapid development progress on its Pangea family of hybrid-electric regional aircraft.

Founded in 2023, Kansas-based TAC aims to reconnect regional communities with cleaner, more affordable flights through its “electric-first”, “hybrid-on-demand” architecture, which is designed to cut direct operating costs by up to 90% on routes below 800km (500miles).

Mario Asselin, founder and co-CEO, said the company’s disciplined approach and patient financing strategy have been essential. 

“We’ve never avoided investment,” he explained. “We’ve simply waited for the right kind: strategic, patient, and aligned with the mission. The right partners understand that this isn’t a two-year turnaround; it’s a lasting transformation of regional aviation.”Asselin added: “There’s no such thing as a minimum viable product in aviation. Our philosophy is disciplined evolution, not iteration by shortcut.”

TAC is designing an energy-management system for hybrid flight, with patents pending. The company is also developing a full aircraft family—from 30- to 70-seat regional airliners to cargo, special-mission, and VIP variants—built on shared systems and structures.

A major feature of the programme is accessibility. All Pangea aircraft are designed to be the first regional-airliner family with wheelchair-accessible cabins, level floors, wider doors with deployable boarding ramps, accessible lavatories and optional voice-guided Cabin GPS for visually impaired passengers. 

“Accessibility isn’t an afterthought, it’s a design requirement,” Asselin said.

The company has logged hundreds of hours in a full-mission simulator and is preparing a sub-scale flying demonstrator for late 2025. It is also developing a Merlin III-based flying test bed to validate a 1 MW electric powertrain, 250–300 kW turbogenerator and its high-density S08 battery modules.

TAC won the Best Pitch Award at the 2025 StartUp Ole Miami Innovation Forum. “The judges recognised that our focus is disciplined innovation, achievable sustainability rather than futuristic speculation,” Asselin said.

The company is now seeking strategic capital partners to support upcoming flight-test phases, including its hybrid-electric flying test bed and powertrain-rig testing.

Looking ahead to 2026, TAC will advance into physical demonstration with sub-scale flight tests, rig integration and the build launch of its full-scale flying test bed, aiming for certification and service entry around 2030-2031.