BETA Technologies opens engineering hub in Montreal

BETA Tech­nolo­gies is open­ing an engi­neer­ing hub in Mon­tre­al, Cana­da, to focus on struc­tur­al engi­neer­ing and mate­ri­als pro­cess­ing.

The new loca­tion has over 50 Mon­tre­al-based employ­ees as the Com­pa­ny advances toward cer­ti­fi­ca­tion to work pri­mar­i­ly on advanced design, flight-sci­ences, flight con­trols and data-sci­ence to sup­port the design, cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, and man­u­fac­tur­ing of the air­craft’s struc­ture.

The Cana­di­an aero­space indus­try employed near­ly 200,000 skilled pro­fes­sion­als in 2021, and con­tributed more than $24 bil­lion to the country’s over­all GDP. With the addi­tion of this new hub, BETA has cre­at­ed an elec­tri­fied cor­ri­dor, estab­lish­ing core oper­a­tions and draw­ing from indus­try-lead­ing tal­ent pools in Ver­mont, New York, and Que­bec. The Com­pa­ny also has oper­a­tions in Wash­ing­ton DC and Spring­field, Ohio.

“With its deep aero­space engi­neer­ing pedi­gree, Mon­tre­al has always been part of BETA’s long-term plan,” said Kyle Clark, BETA’s Founder and CEO.

“Elec­tri­fy­ing avi­a­tion is a big and impor­tant prob­lem to solve, and it will take a lot of real­ly smart peo­ple to get there. We have already added a high­ly skilled team to our ranks in Mon­tre­al, and we look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing to tap into the wealth of expe­ri­ence and tal­ent in the region as we grow.”

BETA aerostruc­tures engi­neer­ing lead Jean Sebastien Leclerc con­tin­ued: “Montreal’s rep­u­ta­tion in the glob­al aero­space ecosys­tem and unique access to tech­ni­cal col­leges, uni­ver­si­ties, SMEs, and OEMs makes it an easy choice for Beta’s expan­sion.

“Our team mem­bers are excit­ed to bring their expe­ri­ences from recent OEM cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams to this future-focused avi­a­tion tech­nol­o­gy. Our con­nec­tion to green ener­gies and pas­sion for avi­a­tion mar­ries well into BETA’s mis­sion to turn the cor­ner on cli­mate change.”

Over the past three years, the Com­pa­ny has demon­strat­ed reli­ably strong per­for­mance with its two pro­to­type air­craft, accom­plish­ing sig­nif­i­cant mile­stones toward cer­ti­fi­ca­tion and com­mer­cial­i­sa­tion.

In June 2022, BETA flew its pro­to­type 2,000 nau­ti­cal miles (nm) from Platts­burgh, NY to Ben­tonville, AR and back, stop­ping along the way to recharge at the elec­tric charg­ing infra­struc­ture the Com­pa­ny is build­ing in par­al­lel with its air­craft.

BETA Tech­nolo­gies: Fur­ther Ama­zon invest­ment, Suc­cess­ful ALIA Tri­al Flight

Late last year, BETA repeat­ed the cross-coun­try trip, fly­ing 1,300 nm from Platts­burgh to Louisville, KY and back, again uti­liz­ing its own charg­ing net­work. The Com­pa­ny also had test pilots from the US Air Force and Army fly ALIA in full-pat­tern demos in March 2022 and July 2022, respec­tive­ly, mark­ing the branch­es’ first-ever flight of an elec­tric air­craft and the industry’s first manned qual­i­ta­tive eval­u­a­tions.

Beta Elec­tric Alia-250 Com­pletes Sec­ond Suc­cess­ful Flight Across Amer­i­ca (876 miles!)