Metro Aviation orders Beta Technologies’ eVTOL for medical transport

Metro Aviation has placed a deposit-backed order for up to 20 ALIA A250 vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft manufactured by Beta Technologies. Metro plans to integrate Beta’s ALIA VTOL into its existing network of air medical operations, to ultimately carry out both interhospital and scene transports. 

Kyle Clark, Beta’s Founder and CEO, commented: “We originally designed ALIA with organ and tissue transport in mind, so we are excited to complement that mission with Metro and its family of healthcare providers across the country. Electric aviation brings reliability at a lower cost, which makes it a strong value proposition for urgent transport like hospital transfers and emergency response.”

Beta has begun production of its all-electric aircraft, including the ALIA VTOL and its conventional counterpart, the ALIA CTOL. Both aircraft are optimized for payload and range, fit for regional or intra-city transport with the ability to carry up to 1,250lb of payload or five passengers and a pilot, depending on the configuration.

In addition to its aircraft, Beta is rolling out an electric charging network across the USA. Currently, there are 35 Beta chargers online along the east, west, and Gulf coasts, and 50 additional sites are in development. 

The company is producing the aircraft and chargers in its nearly 200,000ft² production facility in Vermont. The aircraft and chargers will be delivered to Beta’s growing base of customers, which includes global operators across cargo and logistics, medical, defense, and passenger applications, including UPS, Air New Zealand, United Therapeutics, Bristow, Blade, LCI, Helijet, the US Department of Defense, and now Metro Aviation. 

Metro Aviation recently delivered a new H125 to the Texas Game Wardens, a division of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.