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BETA Technologies and Utah Aerospace & Defense (47G) to bring electric aircraft and charging stations to US state

An agree­ment to bring elec­tric air­craft and charg­ing sta­tions to Utah has been signed by BETA Tech­nolo­gies and 47G | Utah Aero­space & Defense today (Tues­day).

In an press release con­firm­ing the part­ner­ship, it rep­re­sents a major leap for­ward in estab­lish­ing a well-func­tion­ing and statewide trans­porta­tion sys­tem in antic­i­pa­tion of the 2034 Win­ter Olympic Games, which will take place in the state’s cap­i­tal Salt Lake City.

Let­ters of sup­port for the agree­ment were also signed by the Utah Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion (UDOT) and the Governor’s Office of Eco­nom­ic Oppor­tu­ni­ty (GOEO).

Utah Gov­er­nor Spencer Cox, said: “Utah is at the epi­cen­ter of cut­ting-edge inno­va­tions in the com­mer­cial avi­a­tion indus­try that will play a crit­i­cal role in Utah’s eco­nom­ic future. Utah is not just embrac­ing the future of transportation—we are lead­ing it.

“We are work­ing to imple­ment an advanced air mobil­i­ty strat­e­gy that pro­vides Utahns more trans­porta­tion choic­es, improves air qual­i­ty through the use of clean ener­gy tech­nolo­gies, and enhances access to jobs, edu­ca­tion and recre­ation­al oppor­tu­ni­ties.”

The pub­lic-pri­vate part­ner­ship will help to estab­lish a statewide elec­tric charg­ing net­work for both air­craft and ground-based vehi­cles, cre­ate pilot train­ing pro­grams and devel­op a mod­el to fore­cast flight oper­a­tions.

It also encour­ages flight demon­stra­tions that help to edu­cate and engage the pub­lic about this new form of trans­porta­tion. Over the past decade, Utah has been the youngest and fastest-grow­ing state in the coun­try. With nine out of ten Utahns liv­ing in urban areas, state lead­ers are seek­ing sus­tain­able and inno­v­a­tive mobil­i­ty solu­tions to keep Utah mov­ing.

Kyle Clark, BETA Founder and CEO, said: “Utah has a long lega­cy of excel­lence in aero­space, which BETA already knows first-hand as many com­po­nents of our ALIA air­craft are built here. The state’s spir­it of inno­va­tion and progress has fueled remark­able trans­for­ma­tion over the past decade, so this focus on prepar­ing for the future comes as no sur­prise.

“Gov­er­nor Cox and the 47G team have a bold vision for how advanced air mobil­i­ty can rev­o­lu­tion­ize trans­porta­tion, expand access, and con­nect com­mu­ni­ties across the state. We are excit­ed to help bring this new mode of trans­port to Utahns.”

Known for its all-elec­tric air­craft named ALIA, BETA has rede­fined air trav­el with its abil­i­ty to trans­port up to five pas­sen­gers or 1,250 pounds of car­go.

In addi­tion, the company’s Charge Cubes have been accept­ed as the indus­try stan­dard by most air taxi man­u­fac­tur­ers, and can be used to charge elec­tric ground vehi­cles, mak­ing them a game-chang­ing tech­no­log­i­cal inno­va­tion that will fur­ther enhance the scal­a­bil­i­ty and sus­tain­abil­i­ty of air trans­porta­tion while simul­ta­ne­ous­ly help­ing to meet the needs of elec­tric cars and trucks.

Mor­gan Stan­ley has pre­dict­ed the advanced air mobil­i­ty (AAM) mar­ket will reach a val­ue of $1.5 tril­lion by 2040 and Utah is well posi­tioned to reap the ben­e­fits of this bur­geon­ing indus­try.

In the state, the AAM indus­try is fore­cast to gen­er­ate 11,000 new full-time jobs, $8 bil­lion in new busi­ness activ­i­ty and relat­ed stim­u­lus, and $1.8 bil­lion in local, state and fed­er­al tax rev­enues by 2045.

Jim Grover, man­ag­ing direc­tor of eco­nom­ic growth for the Gov­er­nor’s Office of Eco­nom­ic Oppor­tu­ni­ty, said: “Utah is proud to join forces with BETA Tech­nolo­gies, UDOT and 47G to rede­fine how Utahns live, work and build in our great state.

“This part­ner­ship marks a piv­otal moment in Utah’s his­to­ry, posi­tion­ing our state at the fore­front of advanced air mobil­i­ty. With Utah lead­ing the charge, this land­mark oppor­tu­ni­ty will rev­o­lu­tion­ize how we trav­el, con­nect­ing our tal­ent­ed work­force across regions, improv­ing health­care access and assist­ing with ener­gy devel­op­ment in rur­al areas.”

UDOT is tasked with ensur­ing that a new trans­porta­tion sys­tem in the air safe­ly and seam­less­ly inte­grates with the exist­ing trans­porta­tion sys­tem on the ground.

In his recent­ly released bud­get for Fis­cal Year 2026, Gov­er­nor Cox iden­ti­fied $2 mil­lion for air­craft charg­ing sta­tions. If approved by the Utah Leg­is­la­ture dur­ing its 2025 Gen­er­al Ses­sion, UDOT would over­see a com­pet­i­tive pro­cure­ment process to select a com­pa­ny that can pro­vide charg­ing sta­tions for select air­ports across the state.

47G Project Alta, short for the Air Logis­tics Trans­porta­tion Alliance, is a pub­lic-pri­vate part­ner­ship with a mis­sion to estab­lish an air trans­porta­tion sys­tem for Utah.

In close col­lab­o­ra­tion with its pub­lic and pri­vate-sec­tor part­ners, Project Alta is work­ing to expand exist­ing drone pack­age deliv­ery, insti­tute reli­able car­go air trans­port sys­tems, and move peo­ple via air taxis.

Aaron Starks, 47G pres­i­dent and CEO, added: “This part­ner­ship brings togeth­er orga­ni­za­tions who all share the vision and col­lec­tive resources to move Utah into a lead­ing posi­tion nation­al­ly. Air mobil­i­ty will even­tu­al­ly change the way peo­ple com­mute, receive life-sav­ing med­ical sup­plies and trans­port parcels and pack­ages with greater effi­cien­cy.”

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Jason Pritchard

Jason Pritchard is the Editor of eVTOL Insights. He holds a BA from Leicester's De Montfort University and has worked in Journalism and Public Relations for more than a decade. Outside of work, Jason enjoys playing and watching football and golf. He also has a keen interest in Ancient Egypt.

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