From Plattsburgh, New York, to Montreal, Quebec, Beta Technologies’ all-electric aircraft has completed its first international trip — not only marking a new milestone for the aerospace company, but also the first time an all-electric aircraft has landed in the Canadian city.
“It’s exciting to have this opportunity to fly our all-electric aircraft into one of the busiest airports in one of the top aerospace capitals of the world,” said Kyle Clark, Beta’s founder and CEO. “This flight represents another meaningful step toward creating a sustainable aviation future globally.”
The Sept. 27 flight saw the Alia aircraft take off in conventional airplane mode from Beta’s flight test center at the Plattsburgh International Airport (PBG) in New York, and cross the international border, landing at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL) in Montreal, Quebec.
Beta test pilot Chris Caputo piloted the 30-minute flight covering 64 miles (55 nautical miles), with Beta flight test engineer Emma Davis in the right seat. The flight involved traveling through the busy airspace of a Class B airport, which typically sees up to an average of 53,000 passengers per day.
Caputo flew the aircraft to the company’s Montreal engineering hub, which officially opened in March 2023. The hub is home to a team of 70 aerospace experts, tasked with supporting the design, certification, and manufacturing of the aircraft’s structure.
“Our aircraft design is being developed by a collaborative, cross-border team of talented engineers, many of whom are based right here at our growing hub in Montreal,” Clark said.
To commemorate the milestone, Beta hosted a group of leaders from across the aerospace and transportation industries to display its Alia aircraft and discuss sustainable aviation and collaboration between the regions.
This included Secretary General of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Juan Carlos Salazar, president and CEO of Aéro Montréal Melanie Lussier, Quebec delegate for New England Marie-Claude Francoeur, and president and CEO of Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) Yves Beauchamp.
“This aircraft’s safe arrival … represents the very first international flight of a 100% electrically powered aircraft, configured to carry passengers or cargo,” Salazar said, adding the aircraft is an example of the “incredible innovation taking place all across our sector to help address the CO2 emissions impacts of international air mobility.”
The other leaders echoed the sentiment, with Francoeur stating that the “collaboration between Quebec and Vermont is a perfect example of the technological breakthrough that will help us achieve our regional goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.”
The international flight is just the latest in a series of flight milestones for Beta. Last summer, the company completed a multi-mission cross-country flight, clocking a total of 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 kilometers) in a round trip from Plattsburgh, New York, to Bentonville, Arkansas, with stops along the way to recharge on its own infrastructure. This was followed by a second multi-mission flight from New York to Kentucky in December 2022, this time covering a total of 1,300 NM (1,400 km).
Beta also conducted a flight demonstration in Westchester, New York, becoming the first electric aircraft to fly in the greater New York airspace, and completed qualitative evaluation flights with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army test pilots.
Along with the Alia eVTOL, Beta is developing an all-electric eCTOL that it plans to get type certified with the FAA in 2025, followed by the eVTOL in 2026. The company will open the doors to its full-scale aircraft production facility in South Burlington, Vermont, this fall, where it will begin manufacturing these aircraft on its production line.
To support its fleet of aircraft, Beta is also building multimodal, interoperable charging infrastructure, capable to charging other electric aircraft and vehicles. The company currently has chargers online at 13 sites from Vermont to Arkansas to Georgia, with more than 50 additional sites in permitting or construction along the East and Gulf Coast.
