SAN FRANCISCO, May 21 (Xinhua) -- An aircraft startup in the U.S. west coastal state of Washington announced Monday that it will deliver its small hybrid-electric aircraft to its first customer, private-jet-charter provider JetSuite, a media report said.
JetSuite will take up to 100 aircraft made by Zunum Aero based in Kirkland, a city east of Seattle, the largest city in Washington, The Seattle Times reported.
Zunum, a startup that has won funding from both the world's largest aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co. and Washington state, is developing a plane, mostly built of composites, with Tesla-style battery packs in the wings, said the newspaper.
Zunum is expected to make the delivery of the hybrid-electric aircraft to JetSuite in 2022.
The small hybrid aircraft, which carries a relatively small amount of fuel, would be a nine-seat commuter plane for business people on high-traffic, short-hop routes such as Silicon Valley to Los Angeles, the newspaper said.
JetSuite is a firm based in Irvine of California that offers private-charter flights as a more efficient and environmentally friendly aviation solution to its customers, mainly business executives who like to fly out of small airports to avoid the security and logistical delays of commercial airline travel.