Electra Appoints Former Airbus, Boeing Executives and Aircraft Finance Leader to Board

Elec­tra has appoint­ed avi­a­tion indus­try lead­ers James Albaugh and Allan McAr­tor to its Board of Advi­sors, and Kirsten Bar­tok Touw to its Board of Direc­tors on its mis­sion to help decar­bonise avi­a­tion and open new air trans­porta­tion mar­kets.

“Jim, Allan, and Kirsten bring a deep under­stand­ing of the indus­try and an invalu­able per­spec­tive on air­craft devel­op­ment, oper­a­tion, finance, and reg­u­la­tion to the team.” said John Lang­ford, Founder and Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer of Elec­tra.

Albaugh com­ment­ed: “Electra’s choice to devel­op a hybrid eSTOL air­craft is ground­ed in real expe­ri­ence with a broad range of tech­nolo­gies. I am delight­ed to join the com­pa­ny as it pre­pares to demon­strate its pro­pri­etary tech­nol­o­gy in flight.”

McAr­tor added: “The fixed-wing design of the Elec­tra eSTOL air­craft not only reduces tech­ni­cal risk with bet­ter safe­ty and eco­nom­ics com­pared to ver­ti­cal take­off alter­na­tives, but low­er com­plex­i­ty also ensures a straight­for­ward path to cer­ti­fi­ca­tion.”

Bar­tok Touw con­tin­ued: “Elec­tra is trans­form­ing the $150 bil­lion advanced air mobil­i­ty mar­ket by deliv­er­ing the most flex­i­ble, effi­cient and cost-effec­tive solu­tion for urban and region­al trans­port.”

Albaugh retired as exec­u­tive VP of the Boe­ing Com­pa­ny and pres­i­dent and CEO of Boe­ing Com­mer­cial Air­planes in 2012. He is the cur­rent Chair­man of the Nation­al Aero­nau­tics Asso­ci­a­tion, a mem­ber of the Nation­al Acad­e­my of Engi­neer­ing, and past Pres­i­dent of the AIAA.

McAr­tor is the for­mer chair­man of Air­bus Amer­i­c­as, where he served from 2001–2018. Pre­vi­ous­ly, McAr­tor was Admin­is­tra­tor of the FAA (1987–89), founder and CEO of Leg­end Air­lines, and the mem­ber of the senior man­age­ment team at Fed­er­al Express who launched their air oper­a­tions.

Bar­tok Touw is the co-founder and man­ag­ing part­ner of Air­Fi­nance, which spe­cialis­es in struc­tured finance, leas­ing, and the financ­ing of air­craft, with empha­sis on emerg­ing mar­kets. She is also the co-founder and man­ag­ing part­ner of New Vista Cap­i­tal, the invest­ment firm focused on aero­space, space, and nation­al secu­ri­ty tech­nolo­gies.

Last week, The Amer­i­can Insti­tute of Aero­nau­tics and Astro­nau­tics (AIAA) recog­nised key Elec­tra prin­ci­pals with two of their high­est awards. John Lang­ford is to receive the 2023 AIAA Reed Aero­nau­tics Award, while Mark Drela is elect­ed as an AIAA Class of 2023 Hon­orary Fel­low.

Elec­tra offi­cials receive top AIAA hon­ours