Metro orders up to 20 Beta aircraft for medical operations
November 5, 2024
Air medical operator Metro Aviation has placed a deposit for up to 20 of Beta Technologies’ Alia eVTOL aircraft, which it will integrate into its existing network of conventional aircraft across the US.
Beta Technologies is currently developing two variants of its clean-sheet, five-passenger craft; available as the A250 VTOL or the ALIA CX300 CTOL. Both will be single pilot, IFR-capable and possess a maximum cruise speed of 135 knots. However, BETA founder and CEO Kyle Clark believes the eVTOL option will be particularly suitable to medical use, explaining: “Electric aviation brings reliability at a lower cost, which makes it a strong value proposition for urgent transport like hospital transfers and emergency response”.
With Alia originally designed with organ and tissue transport in mind, “we are excited to complement that mission with Metro and its family of healthcare providers across the country,” continued Clark.
Metro currently operates 170 aircraft for 42 programmes across 27 US states; staffing the pilots and mechanics for its hospital providers (with the latter providing medical crew). It hopes that Alia’s 250 VTOL will offer “increased mobility and access to rural and urban geographies with zero operational emissions” – leveraging Beta’s estimate of a cost per hour of just $28 for its Alia eVTOL, vs $311 for a Bell 407 rotary-wing platform.
Of the various eVTOL solutions currently under development, “we believe Beta has the superior product in the eVTOL space,” explained Metro vice president and co-owner Todd Stanberry. “We are aligned with Beta in so many ways, from people, to safety, to quality, and we are thrilled about this new partnership”.
