Aura Aero buys VoltAero assets

Jean Botti’s start-up was developing all-electric Cassio family before insolvency last year.

Electric aircraft pioneer Aura Aero is acquiring the assets of VoltAero in a move that ends months of speculation about the future of its troubled fellow French start-up.

VoltAero – founded by former Airbus technology chief Jean Botti – has spent much of the past decade developing the Cassio series of electric passenger aircraft. The Cassio S demonstrator has since its maiden flight in 2019 performed more than 270 sorties, and VoltAero claimed to have secured close to 300 commitments for aircraft.

However, shortly after opening a production plant in Rochefort in western France, and unveiling the final production design configuration for the Cassio 330 at last year’s Paris air show, the company in October filed for insolvency when a promised equity investment from France’s ACI Group failed to materialise.

Since then, Botti is understood to have been seeking new investment in the project, including in Malaysia.

Toulouse-based Aura, which is developing the 19-seat, hybrid-electric ERA alongside a family of trainer aircraft and a military drone, says the “transaction brings together two complementary areas of French expertise around a common goal: to accelerate the decarbonisation of aviation with concrete, certifiable and industrially viable solutions developed in France.”

The company, which is not disclosing the value of the deal, adds that the acquisition will provide it with “rare experience in hybrid-electric architecture and experimental aeronautical development”.

The purchase includes “key technological and industrial assets” including patents and prototyping capabilities, as well as the Rochefort site and members of the VoltAero team, although it is unclear if that will include Botti.

Aura, which plans to relocate to an all-new assembly plant at Toulouse’s Francazal airport in 2028, says the 2,300sq m (25,000sq ft) Rochefort facility, with direct runway access, will give it an additional operational base for flight testing, integrating and “refining new architectures”.

President and co-founder of Aura, Jeremy Caussade, says the acquisition also represents a “commitment to national sovereignty” by preserving key aviation expertise in France.

The move is the latest in series of retrenchments in the advanced air mobility market, with the collapse of German electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) developers Lilium and Volocopter in late 2024 – the latter was subsequently revived by the owners of Austrian general aviation specialist Diamond – and Hyundai’s suspension last year of the S-A2 project by its Supernal offshoot. Airbus has also put on ice its CityAirbus eVTOL programme.