Theo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.
Beta Technologies announced Monday that the company had been selected for a federal pilot program that will allow the South Burlington-based electric airplane maker and its partners to begin medical flights to and from Vermont this year.
In a call with investors Monday morning, Kyle Clark, the company’s founder and CEO, called the initiative a “huge opportunity” that was effectively “advancing our entire business model by more than a year.”
Though the company reported a net loss of nearly $750 million last year in its financial update on Monday, Beta’s stock jumped by over 10% later in the day for its highest close in over a month.
The pilot program was created by the Trump administration last year and is designed to fast-track selected electric aircraft through the rigorous Federal Aviation Administration approval process.
Beta will work with Metro Aviation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to operate “medical and cargo logistics” flights between Vermont and New York, Monday’s statement said. New York is the “lead state” on the project.
Metro Aviation, a medical helicopter transportation company, already flies medical equipment and cargo back and forth across Lake Champlain.
Beta was approved for seven of the eight projects within the program that the company applied for, leadership said in the statement. Projects will take place in at least 10 states.
“Congratulations to the great American innovators behind each of these exciting pilot programs,” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in a statement Monday.
Selection for the program will also be a boon to Beta’s electric aircraft charging network, which has expanded across much of the eastern United States, according to company leadership.
“This advances our strategy to maintain ownership of the network that controls the flow of energy into electric aviation,” Clark said Monday.
