2023-05-13 16:36:00
Two more engines, a modified fin… Aura Aero’s future hybrid-electric regional aircraft was unveiled a few weeks before the Paris Air Show. The Toulouse industrial start-up will launch the construction of its assembly plant which will employ 1,000 people.
It was under the reactors of the Alpha Jets of the Patrouille de France and the powerful propellers of the military Airbus A400 M in rehearsal for the Air Expo air meeting that Aura Aero unveiled the final version of ERA yesterday. “ERA” is the 19-seat hybrid electric aircraft project that the Toulouse industrial start-up wants to fly in 2026 for entry into commercial service in 2028. This aircraft project, which aims to decarbonize flights regions has undergone major changes in recent months to reach its final version today. “We froze the configuration, which means that we collected the operational needs of the airlines, we validated the technical feasibility and the economic viability of ERA,” explained Mattia Padulo, Technical Director of Aura Aero.
It is therefore not six electric motors but eight that will propel the device which will finally be equipped with a vertical fin in “T” and no longer in “U” as previously imagined. The motors supplied by Safran Electrical Power will be smaller and therefore easier to cool and integrate into the aircraft’s electrical architecture.
30 minutes to recharge the batteries
In the end, ERA will be a hybrid aircraft operating sometimes in all-electric mode (max. 150 km) in particular for the taxiing, take-off and landing phases thanks to batteries or thanks to two turbogenerators capable of being supplied with sustainable kerosene (SAF ) promising an 80% decarbonization. By combining the two energies, ERA will display a maximum range of 1,500 km even if the regional flights it will provide are more between 500 and 800 km. Once on the ground, the battery recharge time is 30 minutes, which is the time to disembark the passengers and board the new ones.
Only one pilot on board
With technical specifications now finalized, the first flight is scheduled for 2026 with entry into service in 2028 after being certified by the European and American air authorities. The device is designed for a single pilot on board, which makes it very competitive compared to two-pilot devices. An “automatic landing” emergency button will be accessible to the hostess or steward in the event of the pilot’s incapacitation.
1,000 jobs for the future Francazal plant
ERA has already received 330 letters of intent from regional airlines (passengers and freight) that commercial director Gwenola Robert (a former aircraft manufacturer ATR) aims to transform into memorandums of commercial agreement for here the end of the year. A cabin of the scale 1 aircraft will be unveiled at the next Paris Air Show in June. The air show will be an opportunity to announce new order intentions.
For its part, the 40,000 m plant2 which should generate a thousand jobs in Toulouse-Francazal will come into service in 2026 to assemble a maximum of 100 ERAs per year.
“Integral E”, the two-seater for 2024
Aura Aero is also developing a two-seater aircraft, the Integral E, an electric derivative of the Integral R (thermal propulsion) which is already undergoing certification. The “E” version is due to enter service in 2024. Its development and manufacture “will greatly contribute to the development of Era, our regional aircraft,” assured Jérémy Caussade, president of Aura Aero.
These smaller planes will be used by civil or military flight schools to serve as a school aircraft but also for aerobatics (with modifications to strengthen the structure).
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