en.Wedoany.com Reported - Aircraft manufacturer Aura Aero (Toulouse, France) has announced the acquisition of VoltAero (Médis, France), aiming to advance aviation decarbonization by integrating Aura Aero's industrial capabilities with VoltAero's hybrid-electric propulsion system technology.
The merger brings Aura Aero 2,400 square feet of industrial facilities, along with VoltAero's expertise in hybrid-electric architecture and experimental aviation development, covering areas such as design, system integration, testing, flight operations, and data analysis. These technological accumulations from VoltAero are epitomized in its hybrid-electric flight demonstrator, the Cassio S.
Since 2019, the Cassio S flight demonstrator has completed 270 flights, covering approximately 25,000 kilometers, and has been tested under various operating conditions. According to a flight test program report from Electrek, the aircraft features a new composite fuselage, with partner Aero Composites Saintonge (ACS, Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan, France) responsible for prototype manufacturing and composite processing, as well as providing aerospace design support. In 2023, VoltAero initiated construction of a dedicated final assembly facility at Rochefort-Charente-Maritime Airport to expand production capacity; in 2025, it signed a letter of intent for a second assembly and innovation center in Sarawak, Malaysia.
Aura Aero's own aircraft projects all utilize composite structures. Its larger ERA project is a 19-seat hybrid-electric regional aircraft, aiming to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 80%, with a fuselage combining composites and metal. To support ERA production, Aura Aero continues to build composite manufacturing capabilities, including expanding its composite workshop, integrating automated fiber placement (AFP) robots, adding large industrial curing ovens, and contracting Avel Robotics for the wing and its carbon fiber composite structural components. Additionally, the company is constructing a new manufacturing facility in Florida, USA, to support ERA aircraft production in the United States.
