Marc Allen, a former Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President for Strategy and Corporate Development at the Boeing Company, has been named as the new CEO of Electra.aero. The Virginia-based startup is developing ultra short take-off and landing hybrid-electric (eSTOL) aircraft.
Allen will be taking the reins from John S. Langford, Electra.aero’s founder and, until now, Chairman and CEO. Langford will remain in the company in the position of Chairman, from which he will continue to shape the company’s long-term strategy.
This management change takes place as Electra.aero accelerates the development of its eSTOL aircraft, for which, the startup claims, it has received already over 2,000 orders. In addition to the start of the flight-testing program of its small-scale two-seater Goldfinch demonstrator, Electra-aero has also begun to work together with both the US Army and Navy in evaluating military uses for the aircraft.
Electra.aero is betting on the ability of its future nine-seater hybrid-electric aircraft to open up point-to-point regional air travel markets by operating from short, and currently underused, local airports.