Imagine taking your next trip of a couple hundred miles. Boston to New York City, for example. Or Houston to Dallas. Tampa to Miami.
The obvious choice now might be to drive. But what if you could show up at an airport at one of those cities, bypass security, board a small hybrid-electric plane with luggage in hand, and be on the ground at your destination in about an hour — all for $25 each way?
A company called Zunum Aero hopes to make that a reality, so that future travelers who normally take a car, bus, or train for regional trips won’t think twice about flying. The Washington-state-based start-up says that since 2013, it has been developing a fleet of hybrid-electric planes that would make those kinds of inexpensive, short-haul flights possible.
The company has some heavyweight investor partners, including Boeing HorizonX and JetBlue Technology Ventures, subsidiaries of their respective companies. It also faces a number of competitors and obstacles, particularly battery limitations. But if successful, it could significantly change regional air travel, where options have shriveled and costs have crept up in recent decades.
‘‘Think of it as Tesla of the air,’’ said Bonny Simi, president of JetBlue Technology Ventures. ‘‘[Or] think of it as an electric bus in the air.’’
Zunum Aero emerged from ‘‘stealth mode’’ on Wednesday to announce its ambitious goals: to be flying routes of up to 700 miles (think Atlanta to Washington, D.C.) by the mid-2020s and then routes of up to 1,000 miles (Los Angeles to Seattle) by 2030.
The start-up also laid out an array of promises: Door-to-door travel times cut in half. Lower operating costs. Airfares that would be 40 to 80 percent lower. All on quiet hybrid aircraft that would produce 80 percent less emissions.
Indeed, part of the company name was inspired by ‘‘tzunuum,’’ the Mayan word for the hummingbird, for the bird’s speed and efficiency.
A small range-extending generator would be integrated into early planes, kicking in on longer flights where battery power isn’t enough. The eventual goal would be for battery technology to become advanced enough to have planes relying entirely on electricity, eliminating fuel costs altogether, Zunum Aero chief executive Ashish Kumar said.
About 95 percent of trips under 500 miles are taken by car, according to the US Department of Transportation’s National Household Travel Survey. For trips between 500 and 750 miles, about 61 percent of travelers drive and 34 percent fly. For trips between 750 and 1,000 miles, a little more than half of travelers fly and 42 percent drive.
Kumar and his team think this is where electric-hybrid planes can step in. Whereas a Boeing 737 today seats anywhere from 85 to more than 200 passengers, a Zunum plane would have from 10 to 50 seats. Because the Transportation Security Administration imposes fewer regulations on smaller aircraft, those passengers would likely be able to skip long security lines. Removing luggage check-in options also would save on time on the ground, he said. The resulting trip would feel more like a cross between private corporate air travel and hopping on a bus.
