• 31 Aug 2024 07:52 AM
• 0

Overair Loses Hanwha

In May, Forbes.com reported that Overair had run low on capital and had lost a majority of its employees. Having peaked at 180 employees, Forbes said, the company had lost the support of Korean aerospace giant Hanwha, which had invested some $170M into Overair, because “progress on its first prototype moving slower than promised.” Founded in 2019 as a spinoff of Karem Aircraft to develop its optimal speed tiltrotor (OSTR) technology for its Butterfly quadtiltrotor eVTOL air taxi, Overair has been pursuing other investors. Led by former Karem president, CEO Ben Tigner, the Butterfly has a number of key technology innovations, including a swashplateless rotor system with individual blade control (IBC) using electromechanical blade actuation, and slow turning rotors that reduce noise. The company rolled out its full-scale, uncrewed prototype in December 2023, and had planned to fly it early this year. The Air Current reported on Aug. 7 that Hanwha Aerospace had recorded an expected loss of about $100M. A Hanwha spokesperson said, “There will be no additional investment in Overair.” In response to a query by Vertiflite, Tigner said, “We’re grateful for Hanwha’s technical and financial support early in our development cycle. We’re now looking at all options for next steps.”