Alpine Air Express, one of the USA’s largest regional air cargo carriers, and AURA AERO have signed a Letter of Intent for the purchase of up to 75 ERA, the hybrid-electric regional transport aircraft due to enter into service before 2030.
Based in Provo, Utah, Alpine Air Express operates some 100+ daily regional flights across the USA, transporting freight and packages for all the major freight delivery companies, such as UPS, Amazon and United States Postal Services, offering last mile delivery. Currently operating a fleet of over 80 aircraft, Alpine intends to take advantage of the opportunities offered by ERA to decarbonize its operations in the coming years while operating a more efficient aircraft.
“Competitive advantages of ERA as a cargo aircraft with respect to traditional turboprops, include lower operating costs, optimized payload capacity for typical short haul freight and increased safety through state-of-the-art avionics and flight controls“, said Drew McEwen, Chief Commercial Officer of AURA AERO.
The announcement follows the signature in June 2023 of a Memorandum of Understanding between AURA AERO and Alpine, covering support in areas like the certification of ERA by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the operations and customer support services, and the development of an aircraft configuration to meet the airline’s specific requirements.
Scheduled to enter into service before the end of the decade, ERA now has an order book of over 570 units, valued up to USD9 billion.
For more information
https://aura-aero.com/en/medias/