Hybrid-electric aviation startup Ampaire, acquired

Interesting to see some M&A activity in the green aviation space.

Ampaire has been featured on this site quite a few times - the latest of them as recently as yesterday, on this podcast interview with François Chopard, of Starburst, which is an investor in Ampaire. The news this time is that this California-based hybrid-electric aviation startup has been acquired by Surf Air Mobility for an undisclosed (so far) amount.

Surf Air Mobility is the umbrella brand for what was previously known just as “Surf Air”, a brand that is still used by the company’s original commuter flight business. Surf Air was actually one of the pioneers of the flat fee air travel business model (you can read more about it on this piece I did for CNN a few years ago).

Although it did not really take off in Europe, where Surf Air opened (and closed) a subsidiary, this model seems to be popular in the US. And It seems that, in addition to its own small fleet of commuter aircraft, Surf Air has pivoted to a marketplace model, in which thousands of third-party operated aircraft are bookable through its app.

It is in this context that the hybrid-electric technology makes sense, since it could become commercially available relatively soon in the category of aircraft that Surf Air specializes in and lower both costs and carbon emissions considerably.

By the way, Ampaire is also involved in the set up of a test ground for new propulsion technologies in Orkney, Scotland, as we reported here a few days ago.