[LOS ANGELES] JetZero, the startup aiming to take on planemakers Airbus and Boeing, is on track to fly the first full-scale model of its manta ray-shaped jetliner by late 2027, executives said on Friday (May 2).
The company is about halfway through the key milestones in its development process for the so-called “demonstrator aircraft”, and is already laying plans to manufacture and certify the first commercial versions, Florentina Viscotchi, JetZero’s head of engineering, told reporters at its Long Beach, California, headquarters.
Executives “feel very confident” they’re on the path to first flight by the end of 2027, as the company initially projected, she said. “Yes, we are very serious about this aircraft and it’s on the path to being really built.”
The next three years will be critical for JetZero. The company is weeks away from unveiling a 1,000-acre (405 ha) site for its main factory – comparable in size to Boeing’s complex north of Seattle or four golf courses, said Tom O’Leary, a Tesla veteran who is the fledgling company’s chief executive. He’s also lining up industrial partners and funding, counting on a boost as the plane concept gets closer to reality.
O’Leary described his vision for 2028: To have a plane in the air and a factory taking shape on the ground. “These are things that are going to happen,” he said in an interview.
The company has won early commitments from Delta Air Lines, United Airlines – and a US$235 million grant from the US Air Force – for a concept aimed at replacing the traditional tube-and-wing design that’s dominated air travel for decades. The goal is to fast-track the effort at a time when Boeing and Airbus are working through record order backlogs and aren’t planning to introduce any all-new designs until the mid- to late-2030s.
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But bringing its radical design to market is a daunting task given the billions required to stand up manufacturing and a supply chain, and the delays that long-established jet families from Boeing and Gulfstream face in gaining certification from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Aviation is littered with companies that have tried to take on the planemaker duopoly, most recently Bombardier’s C-Series aircraft. The effort nearly bankrupted the Canadian manufacturer, which unloaded a controlling stake to Airbus for a token US$1 sum.
JetZero has hired an engineering team and advisers who helped steer the Bombardier jet through certification. Still, it has encountered hiccups, including losing a jet model at 12.5 per cent of the final version’s scale to a battery fire after an initial test, executives said.
JetZero team members, using concepts honed during their time at Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, are creating an aircraft that would seat about 250 people in a triangular-shaped jet cabin that’s wider than conventional jets and boasts a shorter fuselage that contributes lift and fuel-savings. Gone is the tail, with two engines piggybacked onto the rear in its place to provide both power and stability.
“We’re not saying it’s a cake walk, but we have people who’ve done this before,” said Bethany David, a former Gulfstream executive who is JetZero’s head of systems and certification. BLOOMBERG
