Toulouse. Soon a test track and an assembly building for this hybrid flying taxi
Through Anthony Assemat
Published on
It’s here nugget Toulouse, which is rising in the field of mobility of the future. Name of son: Climbing flight technologies. Based on the former military base of Francazal, south-west of Toulouse, the company, which has its offices divided between the Village by CA and the IRT Saint-Exupéry, and its storage hangars on the former military base by Francazal, she is working on a new model of flying taxi, hybrid, called Atea.
Between the plane and the helicopter
An aircraft classified as VTOL, as Vertical take-off and landing plane, which is located halfway between the plane and the helicopter. “We need to change aviation with sustainable solutions. While continuing to fly in a secure manner. 2025 will be the start of the airline transformation, ”says Jean-Christophe Lambert, CEO and co-founder of the start-up.
Originally located in the Paris region, Ascendance, created in 2018 by four former members of the Airbus E-Fan program team, was seduced and then convinced by the Toulouse ecosystem. “In Paris, it takes an hour of transport for the slightest trip. Here, we have our premises fairly close, it is more efficient, good infrastructure and a region active in accelerating innovations ”, testifies Jean-Christophe Lambert.
Future recruitments
The latter returns to his roots with this adventure. ISAE-Supaero Diploma, it is in his student city that he chose to take off his plan for the plane of the future. Acendance Flight Technologies currently has around thirty employees but plans to recruit at least as many over the next two years.
A range of 400 km
Toulouse news was able to observe exclusively the model of Atea (but the company did not wish to distribute the images for reasons of confidentiality), in a reduced model and similar to a drone, designed for regional transport with a capacity of places (one pilot and four passengers). An aircraft with a futuristic design, at a range of 400 km and a maximum speed of 200 km / h which, once in service, has two significant gains: both noise reduction and less CO emissions2.
80% less carbon emissions
The plane uses energy from the batteries and once it takes off, a fuel-fired generator produces electricity that powers several engines, and electric motors. A modular hybrid propulsion solution which bears the name of Sterna. “This allows us to adapt to hydrogen solutions, in particular”, specifies the CEO.
The company’s objective is very precisely quantified with an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions, per passenger and per kilometer, as well as noise pollution divided by four for the population affected by aircraft noise.
The Toulouse-based company specifies that Atea was designed “for urban and regional use in passenger transport, tourism, medical emergencies, logistics and surveillance”.
A test track in 2023
To support its growth and the development of Atea, the company has a center of excellence and testing with a dedicated track on the Muret-Lherm aerodrome, by 2023, Francazal’s configuration is not suitable. The runway is accompanied by the construction of a building for the assembly of planes.
Fundraising of 10 million euros
On the investment side, the Toulouse-based company announced in September 2021, have raised 10 million euros from a pool of investors led by Habert Dassault Finance, Celeste Management, M Capital, Kima Ventures, IRDI Capital Investissement and personalities from the world of industry. The Board of Directors is up to the challenges and hopes raised by Ascendance with the presence of Jean-Christophe Kugler, former member of the Renault executive committee, Jean-Paul Hertéman, former CEO of Safran, and Agnes Plagneux-Bertrand, Deputy Mayor of Toulouse in charge of relations with economic players and Vice-President of Toulouse Métropole in charge of aeronautics and space.
A demonstration at the Paris Olympics in 2024
Ascendance is set on a schedule which should lead it to carry out full-scale tests in 2023, before a demonstration planned for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024 (in partnership with Aéroports de Paris) and industrialization in 2025.
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