Ascendance Flight Technologies, a pioneering French start-up dedicated to decarbonising aviation, has signed large-scale technical partnership agreements with leading players in the aeronautics industry for the development and industrialisation of its two solutions: ATEA and STERNA.
As regards the marketing stage, the company is also pleased to announce that it has signed 110 new Letters of Intent to Purchase with two future clients: Green Aerolease and a soon to be announced operator, bringing its order book to 505 purchase orders from international operators.
These announcements confirm Ascendance Flight Technologies’ credibility in its vision for more sustainable air mobility based on these two solutions. They also confirm the company’s technical choices and the strength of its business model, which is based on long-term, structuring technical partnerships.
Ascendance relies on solid partners to develop the hybridisation of the future
The innovative design and marketing of an hybrid-powered eVTOL aircraft such as the Atea represents a real technological challenge. In this context, Ascendance Flight Technologies has decided to become part of a global ecosystem to develop its innovative technologies and to address the challenges of tomorrow’s air mobility.
The company has assembled the best technological partners with expertise in the manufacture of aerostructure, composite materials and batteries for the aircraft prototype. The major technical partnership agreements signed with Ascendance Flight Technologies include:
- Solvay and Airborne will be working together to develop the prototype aircraft’s aerostructure and prepare the required materials.
- Solvay has significant expertise in the development of innovative lightweight composite materials based on resins and polymers to create efficient, lighter and more sustainable aircraft.
- Airborne specialises in the design and production of composite structures, tooling and industrialisation solutions.
- Evolito will be Ascendance Flight Technologies’ key partner in supplying the battery for the prototype aircraft. The battery is one of the major components of any hybrid-electric propulsion system. Evolito will supply a prototype battery based on technical specifications defined by Ascendance Flight Technologies.
As well as the signature of a strategic partnership with a major aeronautic Group, still not disclosed, that will be shortly announced.
These three major partnerships are launching the production phase of Ascendance’s life size flying prototype, scheduled to fly in 2024. Those production, assembly and flight test activities will support the industrialisation of Ascendance’s serial aircraft, which is scheduled to enter into service in 2027.
Ascendance Flight Technologies has already registered 505 purchase intentions, including 260 new Letters of Intent to purchase its eVTOL ATEA with two future customers: Green Aerolease and a soon to be announced operator. Ascendance’s aircraft has also convinced Amedeo, a leading Aircraft Lessor, which signed a Letter of Intent (included in the total above) with the intention to promote and place ATEA to accelerate the adoption of hybrid-electric eVTOLs.
These pre-orders confirm the relevance of Ascendance’s hybrid-electric technology solutions in responding to the operational needs of customers on three continents:
EVFLY (SINGAPOUR) – FLYSHARE (USA/CALIFORNIA) – HELIFIRST (FRANCE) -JET SYSTEMS HELICOPTÈRES SERVICES (FRANCE) – PHILJETS GROUP (PHILIPPINES) – YUGO (SINGAPORE). GREEN AEROLEASE (FRANCE) – AMEDEO (IRELAND)
A strategic partnership has also been set up with Sigma Air Mobility (a Luxaviation affiliate) to develop networks of eVTOL routes to cover regional distances and launch Decentralised Aviation by connecting regional cities and communities with less access than the major capitals on specific elected region
At the same time, the company has signed a partnership agreement with Latvian airline airBaltic to examine and integrate eVTOL aircraft such as Atea into the airline’s future operations.
“These new technical and business partnerships are a fantastic boost to the design, industrialisation and sales of our aircraft ATEA. The first flight of our life size flying prototype of ATEA scheduled for 2024, powered by our proprietary hybrid-electric technology STERNA will be a major step towards the first flight scheduled for 2024. We are progressing rapidly et successfully towards our objective: to reduce the environmental impact of aviation and to make Ascendance Flight Technologies a significant player in the energy transition,” Jean-Christophe Lambert, Co-founder & CEO of Ascendance Flight Technologies, explained.
