Denver-based aircraft leasing company Skye Aviation is adding to its summer purchase agreement from Bye Aerospace to the tune of two additional eFlyer 800s and paid option agreements for three more.
Combined with its 15 orders placed in June, Skye Aviation is positioning itself to become a leading lessor of all-electric aircraft.
In a press release announcing the order, Bye Aerospace CEO George E. Bye called Skye Aviation “a bridge that will ultimately provide operators looking to participate in the electric aircraft market an economically viable route.”
“The transportation industry is witnessing a sea-change in travelers’ preferences” and said this new partnership would allow them to offer more options to their customers,” Skye Aviation representative Carol Johnson said in the same release.
In November, Bye Aerospace raised $19 million in series B funding from private investors for further development of its aircraft and continued certification efforts.
Bye said FAA certification for the company’s electric eFlyer 2 will come in late 2022 or early 2023. Following that, Bye is expected to develop eFlyer 4, which will target advanced flight training and air taxi applications. Certification for eFlyer 4 is projected by 2024.
The larger, all-electric eFlyer800, with an expected capacity of nine passengers, is aimed at competing with fossil fuel-powered aircraft. The eFlyer800 is expected to be certificated in late 2025 or early 2026.
With this new order, the company says its order backlog now nears 900 airplanes over its three models of eFlyer aircraft.
