Aura Aero Puts Hybrid Demonstrator Back in Flight as X-VOLT

On September 16, an aircraft took off again from the runway at Rochefort, in Charente-Maritime. It is not an airliner: it is the Cassio S demonstrator, which Toulouse-based manufacturer Aura Aero has decided to rename X-VOLT.

Aura Aero, a maker of electric and hybrid aircraft, acquired the assets of VoltAero last June. It is taking over nearly all of the target: its patents, its flying demonstrator and its industrial site in Rochefort. According to L'Essentiel de l'Éco, the Saint-Agnant plant covers 2,400 m², expandable to more than 7,000 m². The Cassio S was built from a Cessna 337 Skymaster airframe; its first flight dates back to 2019, according to Aerospace Testing International.

The Cassio S is a parallel hybrid: electric power handles taxiing, takeoff and landing, while an internal combustion engine supplements propulsion. According to Aura Aero, the aircraft has logged 270 test flights and about 25,000 km before its return to service. The patents and technical data are, for the manufacturer, a foundation for developing new aeronautical technologies.

For Aura Aero, the value lies in using the aircraft as a flying test bed. ERA, the future hybrid-electric regional aircraft with 19 seats, will use Safran's Engineus electric motors, which have also been selected for X-VOLT. The demonstrator is meant to test different building blocks of this technology under real-world conditions, and to integrate advanced systems developed by Aura Aero or other manufacturers in flight. For a manufacturer that must validate its choices before launching a 19-seat aircraft, this is a way to fly the components before freezing them. No entry-into-service date for ERA has been given.

Still, X-VOLT remains a prototype. The tests resuming at Rochefort will show whether these building blocks hold up over time.