Elroy Air Partners with Bristow Group for Cargo eVTOL Aircraft Purchase

Elroy Air has announced that Bristow Group, one world’s leading helicopter operators for government and civil organizations, has signed a letter of intent to purchase up to 100 of Elroy’s Chaparral hybrid eVTOL cargo aircraft.

Abov: Rendering of an Elroy Air Chaparral aircraft in employment of Bristow Group

Bristow Group has over seven decades of experience in moving cargo for logistics, healthcare and energy applications, with a particular focus on offshore air transportation. According to representatives at Bristow, the company hopes to use Elroy’s Chaparral to expand its middle-mile cargo transportation business for healthcare, logistics, and energy markets to new areas that may not have airport infrastructure already in place.

Said Kofi Asante, Elroy’s vice president of business development and strategy, “The Chaparral creates a ‘fast-lane’ for middle-mile logistics to an unprecedented range of locations that can serve remote, rural areas and can fly over rough terrain.”

Notably, the Elroy Chaparral is not a fully electric aircraft, but a hybrid, which allows it additional route flexibility and the ability to achieve ranges of up to 300 miles per flight while carrying between 300 and 500 lbs of cargo. These capabilities far exceed those of any commercial delivery drones already on the market.

Bristow Group has also begun forming partnerships with other eVTOL developers such as Overair, EmbraerX’s Eve, and Vertical Aerospace. Meanwhile, Elroy Air has also formed partnerships with Fedex, AYR Logistics, and Mesa Airlines.

Why it’s Important: Bristow Group, as one of the world’s largest helicopter operator companies, has shown deep commitment to the future of eVTOL by partnering now with four major leading eVTOL developers. As a company as large as Bristow Group continues to show serious interest in eVTOL, the economic benefits of these aircraft become even more clear and certain. With thee Elroy Chaparral’s autonomous capabilities as well as its large payload and range capacities, Bristow should now be able to offer cargo transportation services to even more markets.

Source // Elroy Air

Related:

• FedEx to Test Autonomous Drone Cargo Delivery with Elroy Air (April 2022)
• Elroy Air Raises $40M Series A Funding Round (August 2021)
• Overair Partners with Bristow for eVTOL Operations (December 2021)
• Bristow Group orders up to 150 eVTOL Aircraft from EmbraerX and Vertical Aerospace (September 2021)