Watch Video: “VoltAero Prepares for Production of Cassio Electric-Hybrid Aircraft at New Facility in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France”

The open­ing of VoltAero’s final assem­bly facil­i­ty and HQ at Rochefort Air­port last week, marks an impor­tant step toward cer­ti­fi­ca­tion and pro­duc­tion of the company’s Cas­sio elec­tric-hybrid air­craft fam­i­ly, reports a press release.

Locat­ed at Saint Agnant in the Char­ente-Mar­itime depart­ment of France’s Nou­velle-Aquitaine Region, this pur­pose-built 2,400 sq. metre con­struc­tion is the pri­ma­ry hub for pro­duc­tion and deliv­ery of Cassio’s air­craft, sup­port­ed by VoltAero’s on-site design, engi­neer­ing, flight test and admin­is­tra­tive depart­ments. It took just one year to build. The facil­i­ty is sized for the assem­bly of an annu­al 150 Cas­sio air­planes, to be sup­port­ed by addi­tion­al future pro­duc­tion sites, cre­at­ed around the world.

Dur­ing the inau­gu­ra­tion cer­e­mo­ny, Jean Bot­ti, VoltAero’s CEO and Chief Tech­nol­o­gy Offi­cer, com­ment­ed, “We aim to con­nect thou­sands of com­mu­ni­ties and regions around the world with sus­tain­able and effi­cient advanced region­al air mobil­i­ty, while remain­ing ful­ly com­pat­i­ble with the air­port and air traf­fic con­trol infra­struc­ture.”

Alain Rous­set, Pres­i­dent of Nou­velle-Aquitaine, the largest admin­is­tra­tive region in France, point­ed out that VoltAero’s pro­duc­tion site and HQ rein­forces the area’s posi­tion as an inno­v­a­tive leader in decar­bon­i­sa­tion and sus­tain­abil­i­ty.

In addi­tion to meet­ing the require­ments of France’s RT 2005 reg­u­la­tions for ener­gy-effi­cient build­ings, the facil­i­ty project man­age­ment team went fur­ther with fea­tures that include:-

: A mixed concrete/wood struc­tur­al design.

: The par­tial use of wood­en floors.

: Inte­gra­tion of sky­lights for nat­ur­al light­ing.

: Rain­wa­ter har­vest­ing.

: Pho­to­volta­ic pan­els for elec­tri­cal pow­er.

VoltAero’s new assem­bly facil­i­ty at Rochefort Air­port

The build­ing has direct access to Rochefort Airport’s 2,280 metre-long x 45me­tre-wide run­way and the region’s road, rail and sea trans­porta­tion links. Its mas­ter­plan includes the poten­tial for future growth, as well as enabling sup­pli­ers and ser­vice providers to devel­op their own pres­ence as they sup­port the Cas­sio pro­duc­tion.

Gérard Pons, Pres­i­dent of the Syn­di­cat Mixte des Aéro­ports de La Rochelle, remarked, “With VoltAero’s cor­ner­stone pres­ence, we look for­ward to the future evo­lu­tion of an indus­tri­al ecosys­tem for sus­tain­able avi­a­tion at Rochefort Air­port and in the vicin­i­ty.”

Please Watch Video

VoltAero’s first pro­duc­tion air­craft ver­sion will be the Cas­sio 330, with a four/­five-seat inte­ri­or con­fig­u­ra­tion and oper­at­ing on a com­bined elec­tric-hybrid propul­sion pow­er of 330 kilo­watts. It is to be fol­lowed by the six-seat Cas­sio 480 with a com­bined elec­tric-hybrid propul­sion pow­er of 480 kilo­watts, and the Cas­sio 600, sized at a 10/12-seat capac­i­ty with elec­tric-hybrid propul­sion pow­er of 600 kilo­watts.

For more infor­ma­tion

www.voltaero.aero

(Top image: This com­put­er-gen­er­at­ed image depicts the buildup of Cas­sio air­craft in VoltAero’s final assem­bly facil­i­ty at Rochefort Air­port)

For the lat­est news, insights and con­tent regard­ing the glob­al Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty mar­ket, please join the fol­low­ing eVTOL Insights chan­nels: What­sApp, Face­book, Insta­gram, Spo­ti­fy, Apple Pod­casts, YouTube, X and LinkedIn.