'Flying bus' with a range of 1,000 km

The SkyBus vertical take-off and landing aircraft can carry 44 passengers and can operate on standard bus routes.

SkyBus aircraft concept with a capacity of 44 people. Photo: Lyte Aviation

Unlike the usual compact vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, the first model of British startup Lyte Aviation will be called SkyBus, with up to 44 seats, a maximum speed of 300 km/h, and an operating range of more than 1,000 km, New Atlas reported on November 9.

The SkyBus design resembles a stretched business jet or a small passenger plane, but is equipped with parallel wings at the front and rear of the fuselage. Each wing has a medium-sized propeller on the inside and a smaller propeller on the outside, for a total of eight propellers. However, they appear very small compared to the size of the SkyBus.

For vertical takeoff and landing, the wings rotate to point the propeller upward. Once airborne, the wings begin to tilt forward until they reach cruising speed. The tilt-wing concept has been proposed before, but not on this scale.

SkyBus will use conventional or sustainable jet fuel to power its turboprop engines. The vehicle is expected to have a power output of between 3,500 and 5,000 horsepower.

Lyte wants the plane to use a clean hydrogen-electric propulsion system once the technology is proven and widely available. The company hopes to build a full-scale prototype by 2024 and have it ready to fly by 2025, and has announced a pre-order deal with India’s Vman Aviation Services for 10 SkyBus aircraft for $428 million.

The uniqueness of SkyBus lies in their size. They can make regional flights with a range of 1,000 km, with the advantage of not needing a runway to take off or land. They can provide quick, easy inter-island flights for 44 passengers, or fly standard routes as a sky bus.

Thu Thao (According to New Atlas )

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