PIO’s aircraft firm gets Boeing wings
New York: A hybrid electric aircraft start-up founded by an Indian-origin entrepreneur has received investments from aerospace giants — Boeing and JetBlue owing to its goal to develop alternative propulsion aircraft.
Zunum Aero, founded by Ashish Kumar three years ago in Kirkland, Washington, is working to develop a an electric hybrid aircraft with potential for performance and efficiency improvements in a range of aerospace applications.
“I consider us very fortunate to have backers like JetBlue and Boeing,” Kumar told the Business Insider. “We have been engaged with both companies for about a year, and both are as passionate as we are in this opportunity to reinvent regional air travel,” Kumar said. The
Zunum Aero, founded by Ashish Kumar, is working to develop an electric hybrid aircraft with improved efficiency
startup intends to use the financing to further develop its proposed regional aircrafts that hold 10 to 50 passengers for flights up to 1,000 miles.
The jets primarily operate on battery power with an aviation diesel or turbine range-extending power generator available as backup, a report in Fortune said.
Boeing said it invested in the startup through the ventures arm of a new group, ‘Boeing HorizonX’, an innovation cell focused on accelerating potentially transformative aerospace technologies.