(Bloomberg) — Plane-leasing firm Avolon Holdings Ltd. said it could order more flying taxis after finding prospective users for all 500 craft in a $2 billion purchase from U.K. startup Vertical Aerospace Ltd.
Demand for electric vertical takeoff and landing or eVTOL craft exceeds supply, making the rapidly emerging sector “a good place to be,” Avolon Chief Executive Officer Domhnal Slattery in an interview Tuesday.
“We will continue to look at topping up our order as we do all the time,” he said. “The primary focus in the short term, in the next couple of quarters, is converting these deals into hard contracts.”
Avolon’s latest deal is with Turkey’s Gozen Holding for the sale or lease of up to 50 Vertical Aerospace VX4s, plus 50 options. The deal further vindicates the lessor’s bet on flying taxis after the purchase from Bristol, England-based Vertical in June, though orders must be firmed up and the VX4 needs to go through a flying program and gain regulatory approval, targeted for 2024.
While cautioning that delivery dates “only ever” slip, Slattery, who is also chairman of Vertical, said the startup hasn’t indicated any delays and expects deliveries to start in 2025, with the 500-plane order due over five years.
Most of those craft are destined for airlines including Brazil’s Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes, Japan Airlines Co. and AirAsia of Malaysia.
EVTOLs have been touted as a largely carbon-free way for carriers to diversify and grow their businesses, offering a cheaper alternative to helicopters and faster trips than taxicabs or Uber.
Gozen, which owns the airline Freebird and also has a travel-agency business, said it sees potential in reducing the environmental footprint of tourists going to locations such as Troy and Cappadocia.
(Updates with CEO comments on follow-up orders from first paragraph. A previous version of the story corrected the spelling of the company’s name in the headline)
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