French start-up Aura Aero last week announced plans to bring a hybrid-electric 19-seat airliner into commercial service by 2026. Its ambitious goals for the Electrical Regional Aircraft (ERA) build on its experience developing the all-electric Integral E light aircraft, which is set to make its first test flight in 2022.
The company, which has just opened a 38,000-sq-ft manufacturing facility in a former French air force hangar near Toulouse, says that it already holds orders for 50 examples of the two-seat Integral E, mainly from flight-training organizations and aerobatic clubs. Apart from its electric propulsion system, the aircraft is fundamentally the same in performance as its Integral R model, for which first deliveries should be made before the end of 2021. The firm is also working on the Integral S, which is an adaptation of the R featuring a tricycle-configured landing gear and is expected to begin flight testing this summer.
