Beta Technologies, the electric aircraft manufacturer based in South Burlington, has been singled out by the Biden Administration for a $169 million loan to help finance the company’s new manufacturing facility on Williston Road at the Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport.
The 188,500-square-foot electric aircraft factory is expected to create hundreds of jobs, as Beta ramps up to full production for its customers in the cargo, medical, defense and passenger industries.
The loan was made by the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) in part because of Beta’s growth, and because of current and potential customers the company has in countries such as New Zealand, India, Japan and Canada. In five years, Beta has gone from a handful of employees to 600, with 400 in Vermont, as of October 2023.
Hundreds of well paid ‘climate-focused’ jobs at Beta Technologies
Kyle Clark, founder and chief executive officer of Beta, traveled to Washington, D.C., for an event hosted by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to highlight a total of nearly $200 billion of investments from Asia-Pacific companies in the United States since President Joe Biden took office in 2020.
In a statement, Clark said Beta is excited to partner with the U.S. Export-Import Bank as part of its Make More in America Initiative, designed to unlock financing for American manufacturing with loans for companies with the potential to export their products.
“This is not only a vote of confidence in the work Beta is doing to electrify aviation, it will also help us create hundreds of well-paid, climate-focused jobs in the coming years as we move toward large-scale manufacturing and production of our electric aircraft,” Clark said. “America has a long history of leadership in aerospace, and EXIM’s support enables us to do our part to add to that legacy for the future.”
Beta delivers Alia aircraft to U.S. Air Force for training and experimentation
On Oct. 26, Beta delivered its first aircraft to a contracted partner − the U.S. Air Force. Beta flew an Alia electric airplane to Duke Field at Eglin Air Force Base in Eglin, Florida, in a series of flights down the East Coast covering more than 1,500 nautical miles from Vermont.
The Alia will remain at Duke Field for several months, where the Air Force will train and experiment with the electric airplane to “validate” it for uses including critical resupply, cargo delivery and personnel transport, according to a news release.
Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosi@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT. This coverage is only possible with support from our readers.
