FutureFlight
Faradair Sees New UK Base As a Springboard For Its Bio Electric Hybrid Aircraft
The fixed-wing Bio Electric Hybrid Aircraft is expected to make a first flight by early 2024, with the first versions being ready to enter service in 2026.
Faradair Bio Electric Hybrid Aircraft
UK startup Faradair will build the prototype of its Bio Electric Hybrid Aircraft at its new headquarters at Duxford airfield in the UK. [Image: Faradair]

Faradair, the UK company developing a hybrid-electric short takeoff and landing aircraft for a variety of applications including regional airline service, on September 1 began operations at its new headquarters at Duxford airfield. The move gives the startup the stability it says it needs to advance plans to achieve a first flight with the planned Bio Electric Hybrid Aircraft (BEHA) in early 2024.

The company is the anchor tenant in Duxford’s new Avtech facility established as a research and development hub for general aviation ventures by Cambridge University’s Gonville & Caius College on land that it owns adjoining the Imperial War Museum site. The relocation marks what founder and CEO Neil Cloughley hopes will be a positive fresh start for a program that has struggled to gain altitude in a country that supposedly has ambitions to advance zero-carbon aviation technology.