Charter Carrier JSX Places Bets on 3 Hybrid-Electric Aircraft Startups

Public charter carrier JSX is planning for a day when its fleet will skew heavily toward hybrid-electric aircraft, with plans to acquire more than 300 aircraft from a trio of aviation startups.

JSX announced Tuesday that it has signed letters of intent for 332 aircraft from Aura Aero, Electra and Heart Aerospace. The models are Aura’s 19-seat Aero Era, Electra’s nine-seat eSTOL aircraft and Heart’s 30-seat ES-30.

The agreements follow a provisional agreement JSX signed in early 2021 to buy 200 hybrid electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft from Odys Aviation, a startup in Long Beach, Calif., with options for 400 more. The Odys aircraft would carry nine passengers up to 750 miles, including 200 miles on its electric batteries.

“We place a lot of bets,” JSX Chief Executive Alex Wilcox told The Messenger last month, speaking of the company’s evaluation of future electric aviation technologies. “It’s like covering a roulette board.”

Dallas-based JSX flies around 120 daily public charter flights to two dozen U.S. markets, primarily in California and Texas, with 30-seat Embraer E-145 regional jets. The company says hybrid-electric aircraft will open far more airports and markets than it can currently serve with its conventional regional jets.

“The [Embraer] ERJ is a billion-dollar business,” Wilcox said. “The hybrid-electric thing is like a $10 billion business because we can be in 500 markets with those things. It’s a much, much bigger business because it’s a much bigger consumer base.”

Financial terms of the intent letters were not disclosed. The order includes the following manufacturers:

Aura Aero ERA (50 + 100 options)

The ERA electric hybrid is designed to carry 19 passengers up to 900 nautical miles. The company, based in Toulouse, France, says it has around 350 letters of intent for its aircraft valued at 3.5 billion euros ($3.8 billion). The ERA is expected to enter commercial service before 2030.

Electra eSTOL (32 + 50 options)

Electra says its nine-seat hybrid-electric will be able to take off and land within the area of a soccer field using its “blown lift” aerodynamic technique at slow speeds. The plane will carry nine passengers or 2,500 pounds of cargo 500 miles at 200 mph; Electra made its debut flight with an eSTOL demonstrator craft on Nov. 19. 

Heart Aerospace ES-30 (50 + 50 options)

Heart's designing a 30-seat electric hybrid with a maximum range of 800 kilometers (497 miles). Heart says the ES-30 will complete a fast charge in 30 minutes between flights and receive regulatory certification in 2028. It can operate solely on battery power for 200 km (124 miles).

Heart has collected 250 firm orders for the ES-30 and options and purchase rights for 120 more, plus letters of intent for 191 others. Customers include United Airlines, Air Canada, SAS and Mesa Airlines. United and Air Canada have also taken equity stakes in Heart, which is based in Gothenburg, Sweden.