I Flew on a One-of-a-Kind Electric Plane That Could Reshape Air Travel

The Alia CX300 can carry five passengers and one pilot, with no divider between the cockpit and the cabin.

Inside, two rows of seats sit behind the pilot. My colleague Dan Allen, who sat in the back row at over six feet tall, said he had plenty of legroom. I sat in the front and felt the same.

Flying from the cockpit gave me a bird’s-eye view, and the visibility below seemed to eliminate some blind spots.

That said, you do feel every bank and bump in a small aircraft like this, and some passengers may get motion sickness. Dramamine probably wouldn’t hurt.

Up to five battery packs stored in the belly of the aircraft provide around 250 kWh of energy — roughly 390 miles of range under ideal conditions. The redundancy in case a battery fails is crucial for safety and certification.

While not fully certified yet, the company secured special federal permissions to operate demonstration flights like this one.

Beta has spent years developing its electric propulsion system in-house, with separate versions for its cTOL and upcoming eVTOL aircraft.

The batteries can be recharged in about an hour using large, cube-shaped charging units, which Beta also builds and sells to other operators for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The charging business is part of its broader strategy to diversify revenue beyond aircraft sales.

By designing and building much of its technology in-house, Beta has greater control over quality and costs, Clark said — a vertical integration strategy similar to SpaceX, which also builds much of its rockets and supporting infrastructure itself.

To demonstrate the CX300’s glide, Caputo cut the engines at about 1,300 feet. While it was slightly rattling, the aircraft maintained a controlled glide and gradually lost altitude.

Caputo said that even in the event of complete power loss away from an airport, the aircraft could glide down onto a suitable landing strip.

The engine itself is also built with redundancy. The rear-mounted electric propulsion unit is designed with independent power paths, meaning one can fail while the other continues operating.

Our flight technically cost only a few dollars in electricity, Caputo said. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy similarly took a demo flight with Beta last week that cost $3, per the company. A similarly sized fuel-powered Cessna would cost a few hundred dollars.

But that doesn’t necessarily translate into cheap fares. Operating costs still include pilots, maintenance, insurance, and infrastructure — so the true economics are still a big question.

But electricity is still cheaper than jet fuel, especially as oil prices remain sky high amid the US war in Iran.

Beta has partnered with several airlines, including Republic Airways, Air New Zealand, and the UK’s Loganair, to conduct real-world test flights. For example, Beta and ANZ completed more than 100 flights — including organ deliveries — across 12 airports and roughly 7,000 miles earlier this year.

In the US alone, there are more than 4,000 public-use airports that are too rural or small for larger commercial jets, yet still need more affordable connections to the broader air network — think leisure places like the Hamptons and Catalina Island, or remote Alaskan communities that rely on regular supply flights.

That network could become the backbone for the Alia CX300, flying short-haul routes within airline fleets or as a standalone service opening untapped routes at lower cost — ultimately laying the groundwork for Beta’s vision of eVTOL flying taxis.

“We’re ready to go today with cargo cTOL aircraft,” Clark said. “Tomorrow it’s going to be passenger cTOL aircraft, then cargo VTOL aircraft, then passenger VTOL aircraft.”