The U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) has approved a $169 million load to Beta Technologies to support the development of its Alia eVTOL and CX300 eCTOL aircraft, as well as charging infrastructure. The transaction is the second deal approved under EXIM’s Make More in America initiative and is expected to support around 400 “clean energy” jobs at Beta’s facility in Vermont.
The loan was announced on November 16 as part of an Invest in America session at the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum held in San Francisco this week. “This transaction advances several key Biden-Harris Administration priorities, from bolstering domestic manufacturing and supporting good-paying jobs to advancing cutting-edge renewable energy technologies that can change the future of aviation,” said EXIM president and chair Reta Jo Lewis.
Part of the basis for approving the loan is that Beta Technologies has current and potential customers in the Asia-Pacific region and among Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity member states. These are located in countries including India, New Zealand, Japan, and Canada.
“We are excited to partner with the Export-Import Bank of the United States as part of its new Make More in America initiative,” said Kyle Clark, Beta’s founder and CEO. “This is not only a vote of confidence in the work Beta is doing to electrify aviation, but 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. 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.”
On October 2, Beta opened the manufacturing facility in Burlington, Vermont, where it will build its electric aircraft. The company expects to have the capacity to assemble 300 aircraft each year in a 188,500-sq-ft facility that it says has been designed to operate with net zero carbon emissions.
The factory, which was officially inaugurated today in the presence of local elected officials, is part of a 40-acre site at Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport, with space already allocated to expand production capacity at a later date. Beta is developing both the Alia 250 eVTOL model and the conventional takeoff and landing CX300 version, with target dates for type certification of 2026 and 2025 respectively. It has provisional sales commitments from multiple prospective operators, including helicopter group Bristow and express freight distributor UPS.. 
