BETA Technologies Announces “USD41 Million Grant Overseen by Governor Hochul” to Expand Production, Flight Tests and Delivery Centre for Electric Aircraft at Plattsburgh International Airport

The Gov­er­nor of New York, Kathy Hochul, has announced that BETA Tech­nolo­gies will col­lab­o­rate with Clin­ton Coun­ty via a USD41 mil­lion expan­sion of its exist­ing facil­i­ty at Platts­burgh Inter­na­tion­al Air­port, reports a press release. 

The release explains, “The new, upgrad­ed facil­i­ty will serve as the man­u­fac­tur­ing and final assem­bly hub for Beta’s all-elec­tric air­craft and will estab­lish a per­ma­nent flight test and air­craft deliv­ery cen­tre, respon­si­ble for final flight test­ing, air­craft paint­ing, and cus­tomer deliv­ery, at one of the North Country’s busiest tran­sit hubs.”

It con­tin­ues. “BETA’s expan­sion in Platts­burgh will deep­en the company’s com­mit­ment to devel­op­ing one-of-a-kind aero­space tech­nol­o­gy in New York State, strength­en the North Country’s rep­u­ta­tion as a mod­ern trans­porta­tion hub, and build on Gov­er­nor Hochul’s con­tin­ued invest­ments to sup­port clean trans­porta­tion and a green­er econ­o­my.”

As part of the agree­ment BETA has com­mit­ted to cre­at­ing 85 full time jobs in exchange for a USD20 mil­lion grant award­ed to BETA via Clin­ton Coun­ty from Empire State Development’s Region­al Eco­nom­ic and Com­mu­ni­ty Assis­tance Pro­gram.

Gov­er­nor Hochul

Gov­er­nor Hochul, commented,“If you’re look­ing for the jobs of the future, come to New York! This expan­sion of BETA Tech­nolo­gies in Platts­burgh is exact­ly the kind of growth and inno­va­tion that’s super­charg­ing New York’s econ­o­my for the 21st Cen­tu­ry. From the North Coun­try to Cen­tral New York to New York City, my Admin­is­tra­tion is mak­ing trans­for­ma­tive invest­ments that cre­ate jobs, expand oppor­tu­ni­ty and grow our econ­o­my in every region of the state.” 

Kyle Clark, Founder and BETA CEO, remarked,  “New York State has a strong work­force and a track record of lead­er­ship when it comes to sup­port­ing and enabling next-gen­er­a­tion trans­porta­tion. We’ve been devel­op­ing, fly­ing, and main­tain­ing our elec­tric air­craft at Platts­burgh Inter­na­tion­al Air­port since 2017, and in that time, have been over­whelmed by the State and Coun­ty’s sup­port of our vision.”

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Dur­ing the last five years, BETA’s flight test cen­tre at Platts­burgh has been at the epi­cen­tre of its inno­v­a­tive tech­nol­o­gy, ensur­ing many of the company’s largest flight mile­stones have been com­plet­ed in New York State. Its longest record­ed flight of an elec­tric air­craft spanned 336 nau­ti­cal miles, from Jamestown to Platts­burgh. 

BETA has secured firm orders from top glob­al oper­a­tors includ­ing UPS, Unit­ed Ther­a­peu­tics, Bris­tow, LCI, Blade, and Heli­jet, and has mul­ti­phase con­tracts with the U.S. Air Force and Army. 

The com­pa­ny has installed air­craft charg­ing sta­tions at 15 loca­tions in the U.S. includ­ing Jamestown, Rome and Platts­burgh air­ports, and has 55 more sites across the coun­try in pro­duc­tion includ­ing at Elmi­ra, White Plains, Repub­lic, Hud­son Val­ley Region­al and Albany Inter­na­tion­al Air­ports, with plans to con­tin­ue expand­ing across the coun­try. 

Kyle Clark

The release con­tin­ues, “This most recent announce­ment com­ple­ments Gov­er­nor Hochul’s ongo­ing invest­ments in build­ing clean trans­porta­tion infra­struc­ture in New York State. The State is invest­ing more than USD1 bil­lion in zero emis­sions vehi­cles over the next five years and requires all new pas­sen­ger cars, pick­up trucks, and SEVs sold in the State to be zero emis­sions by 2035. In addi­tion to fed­er­al fund­ing, New York’s EV charg­ing Make-Ready and EVolve New York Pro­grams are con­nect­ing com­mu­ni­ties to reli­able charg­ing infra­struc­ture that enables the tran­si­tion to zero-emis­sion vehi­cles statewide.” 

Hope Knight, Empire State Devel­op­ment Pres­i­dent and CEO, said,“BETA Tech­nolo­gies’ expan­sion into New York State reflects the state’s many strate­gic invest­ments at Platts­burgh and builds on our sus­tain­able eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment efforts to attract new, green jobs and busi­ness­es to the North Coun­try and across the state.” 

For more infor­ma­tion

https://www.beta.team/

(Top image: BETA)