Hybrid-electric aircraft developer Dufour Aerospace is aiming its proposed vertical take-off and landing vehicle at pre-existing helicopter markets, hoping to leave competitors behind with a fast and efficient cruise stage. “In many use cases today, you use a helicopter because of its vertical take-off and landing capacity and not because it is a brilliantly efficient cruise flyer,” chief commercial officer Sascha Hardegger tells FlightGlobal on 31 October.
The Swiss start-up seeks to combine both of those attributes with its Aero3 VTOL, and for the aircraft to separate itself “wherever there is a cruise segment – and that’s the majority of helicopter operations”, Hardegger says. “Between hospitals, that typically involves vertical take-off and landing, but it also involves long segments of flight where you really just cruise so you don’t need hover capabilities”…
The Swiss start-up seeks to combine both of those attributes with its Aero3 VTOL, and for the aircraft to separate itself “wherever there is a cruise segment – and that’s the majority of helicopter operations”, Hardegger says. “Between hospitals, that typically involves vertical take-off and landing, but it also involves long segments of flight where you really just cruise so you don’t need hover capabilities”…
