It’s too far to drive and too close to fly. This is a version of modern travel caught between a rock and a hard place that seems inescapable until flying cars take off, which probably won’t happen anytime soon. However, while it won’t necessarily land on a runway, a solution to this conundrum may soon arrive.
A hybrid electric aircraft being developed by Virginia-based advanced air mobility company Electra hopes to revolutionize regional travel by ushering in a new era of “direct aviation,” requiring less than 150 feet above the ground to take off or land and bypassing roads and airports alike.
While commercial aviation has created cross-border connections, it has yet to develop suitable routes for “cumbersome” interregional travel.
Electra CEO Mark Allen told CNN, “No matter how big the airline business is, it cannot solve the most difficult problems in our daily lives.”
“It’s great for moving across continents, and that’s what we like about it. It’s great for moving large amounts of goods, but it’s not great for moving regionally,” he said. It’s the kind of trip that’s “too long to comfortably drive, but too short to take a quick flight, and you’re stuck.”
Electra refers to the “Rule of Six” criteria that advanced aircraft must meet. Quietness, access, payload, range, safety and affordability. According to Allen, no aircraft in history has met all the criteria he believes will support the next generation of aviation.
Commercial airliners, for example, cannot match helicopters in their ability to safely transport tons of cargo and passengers over thousands of miles, but their access is limited to airport runways. The millions of dollars the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spends each year on noise abatement projects proves that airliners are not qualified to meet quietness requirements.
But advances in distributed electric propulsion technology have replaced some or all of the plane’s combustion-based engines with smaller electric motors placed throughout the fuselage, setting the stage for the UltraShort, the first aircraft capable of covering all bases, according to Electra.
Electra says the EL9 Ultra Short is equipped with a turbine generator and eight electric motors and can travel 380 miles with a maximum payload of nine passengers or 3,000 pounds of cargo. In contrast, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft can typically fly up to 160 miles.
Electra says the batteries that power the take-off and landing motors are charged during flight by electricity generated by gas turbine engines, and when running on standard jet fuel, they burn 40 percent less fuel than comparable aircraft and have 70 percent lower operating costs than helicopters. The hybrid electric architecture is designed to accommodate alternative energy sources, including hydrogen, and could potentially enable zero-emissions flight as this technology becomes commercially viable.
The Ultra Short’s takeoff noise is just 75 decibels, about the same as a vacuum cleaner, but its go-to characteristic gives it its name. The aircraft can take off at just 30 miles per hour and requires a 150-foot runway, less than 2% of the shortest runway at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
This is made possible by eight propellers that accelerate the airflow over the wings, allowing the aircraft to generate its own lift. The propeller is complemented by a system of flaps and droop, which in wind tunnel testing has measured an EL9 lift coefficient of more than 20, an “astounding” power output that is up to eight times greater than what modern wings on large commercial aircraft can boast, Allen said.
Although it’s not considered an eVTOL because it doesn’t take off and land vertically like a helicopter, the EL9’s takeoff experience “feels like an elevator,” Allen says. Furthermore, he added: “It’s very calm, just a straight climb.
“The plane accelerates and within about three or four seconds you’re up in the air. You look around and think, ‘Oh my god. I just woke up about five or six floors.'”
This ability to squeeze into tight spaces unlocks the potential of what Electra calls “direct aviation.” That is, inter-regional air travel that breaks the “tyranny” of congested roads and airport checkpoints.
Enabling these flights creates a “mesh network” of access points that Ultra Short can travel to and from. Many of these already exist in the form of 40-foot flat surfaces suitable for helipads, fields, parking lots, and other purposes, Allen explains.
Last month, a two-seater Ultra Short prototype landed and took off from a 300-foot floating barge used to park helicopters in Lower Manhattan.
According to research from Electra, a trip from a shopping mall parking lot in Washington, D.C., to a helipad in New York City could be completed in 1 hour and 45 minutes using UltraShort, which is more than twice as fast as current routes taken by car or commercial aircraft.
Although UltraShort promises “life beyond the runway,” it is not intended to replace traditional aviation infrastructure. In fact, Allen believes the aircraft will increase business rather than take it away from airlines.
Connecting new access points, including those added at major airports, to existing airline networks will give airlines access to an entirely new customer base, allowing them to take advantage of Ultra Short to connect to far-flung destinations.
The economics of advanced air mobility will strengthen with distance and occupancy, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers director Alexander Buszkowski, who oversees PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global Center of Excellence in Drone and Geospatial Technologies and co-authored a 2025 report on the industry’s commercial outlook.
Buczkowski told CNN in an email that while it’s difficult to justify short-haul flights within cities versus existing ground transportation, air taxi companies targeting trips of 100 to 200 kilometers where existing connections are poor are well-positioned to attract customers willing to pay for the time saved.
However, he added, “The entire industry is struggling to regulate and certify these new platforms, which remains a major hurdle for all players.” Another challenge is “unit economics,” or the cost of the aircraft and the level of utilization that operators can realistically achieve.
“Unless both come together, the service will either be unaffordable for passengers or operate at a loss,” Buszkowski said.
“The question is whether a hybrid fixed-wing design will be cheaper to operate than a helicopter or eVTOL. Actual testing will occur after the aircraft is certified and flies commercial routes.”
So when will ultra shorts really take off?
Electra has already received more than 2,200 pre-orders for the EL9 from more than 60 airlines around the world, representing a $15 billion backlog, while sales negotiations continue with various infrastructure partners and airlines to operate access points and flight services.
EL9 testing is scheduled to begin in earnest in the second half of 2027 with a series of trials at five facilities in Norway. From there, it would take a year of flying for the aircraft to reach type approval. Type inspection approval is an important watershed that allows FAA technicians and test pilots to conduct official inspections and tests on the aircraft. Allen aims to launch commercial service in 2030.
Construction will begin next year on the $850 million, 88.5-acre site in Springfield, Ohio. Contract customers include the U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy, and Allen believes Electra’s aircraft could eventually replace the Black Hawk, the U.S. military’s primary tactical transport helicopter.
Changes in operational areas may necessitate changes to the vehicle, and while the UltraShort already has the ability to silently transport supplies to remote locations, it also offers the added benefit of being able to charge modern, increasingly electronic military equipment, from drones to communications equipment.
“This is a ground-based generator. The power this plane puts out can power 15 homes,” Allen said.
But with a commercial model priced at $10 million, most commercial pilots will have to wait a little longer for a world where they can walk out their front door and board their own ultra-short personal plane.
“That’s a generation too early,” Allen added.
