CHARLESTON, W.Va. –– West Virginia International Yeager Airport is looking to stay ahead of the trends in aviation.
The CRW Authority Board entered an agreement last week with BETA Technologies for an eVTOL charging station and EV charging station.
An eVOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft) is designed to take off from the ground straight up, hover in the air, and then land in a vertical position using electric power.
The charging stations will be on the parking lot of Marshall University’s Bill Noe Flight School.
CRW chief marketing office Paige Withrow says these aircrafts are the next big thing.
“They are the future of aviation,” said CRW chief marketing officer Paige Withrow. “We’re seeing a lot of these pop up around the industry so we’re excited to potentially bring some of these to CRW.”
She says the airport is doing its part in staying ahead of the game.
“We’re just trying to stay ahead of where the industry is going,” she said. “We will have the charging stations here and they will have the ability to stop here and charge these aircrafts if they want to. There’s typically a map of where these charging stations are and they’ll be able to hopefully pick West Virginia to stop.”
As of now companies are looking to potentially utilize eVOL aircrafts for delivery services.
Reports say UPS is planning on purchasing eVOL aircrafts from Beta. According to a press release from Beta last month, plans are in place to begin autonomous flight testing during the beginning of next year.
Withrow says there is traction in using the aircrafts to move small groups of people in the future.
“Right now, what we’re seeing a lot of is FedEx and UPS are using them right now to move things, but they are moving into moving people, so that’s why say it could potentially be the future of the industry,” Withrow said.
She says if that eventually comes to fruition, West Virginia could stand to benefit.
“So, think maybe one of these aircrafts comes in, they pick up some people here from the airport and they take them to the New River Gorge and then they come back. These are for short hop flights so that’s the kind of thing that they are thinking.”
“It’s a really neat model and something that could be huge for West Virginia,” she said.