LYTE and AAM Institute launch ferry alternatives with SkyBus LA-44 in Seattle

What if a daily commute was accelerated from 30 km/hour (approximately 19 mph) to 300km/h? Imagine travelling back and forth to work 10 times faster? That’s the opportunity LYTE Aviation, with its 40-seater eVTOL, SkyBus, is envisioning through a newly ratified partnership with the Advanced Air Mobility Institute and its stellar team of experts. LYTE Aviation is pioneering the industry’s first 40-seat eVTOL, a heavyweight passenger mass transit vertical take-off and landing aircraft branded the SkyBus LA-44.

The aircraft is being designed to be five times more fuel efficient than a helicopter, 10 times less noise polluting than a helicopter, with considerably fewer MRO costs. With its tandem tilt-wing technology, power will come from hybrid-hydrogen-electric turboprops and electric engines.  It is also designing a cargo variant, SkyTruck LA-44C, offering a payload capacity of 4.5 tons. Owing to the use of proven and existing technologies available today, LYTE Aviation is estimating entering the market within five to six years. 

UK-based LYTE Aviation is pleased to have entered a close strategic partnership with the AAM Institute, an American non-profit corporation, dedicated to educating and advocating for the broadest public benefit through the AAM ecosystem globally. The AAM Institute is committed to protecting people, their rights, and systems.  It seeks to accelerate access to these new technologies in an ethical and responsible way for the protection of the people who rely on it. 

LYTE Aviation founder and CEO Freshta Farzam commented: “Our future SkyBus is an ideal proposition for the ‘Bainbridge Island - Seattle - Redmond’ connection. It will provide a safe, convenient, affordable, sustainable, and much faster transportation option.The SkyBus is an ideal solution to extend current ferry transport solutions on waterways in the near future for passenger mass and cargo transit. Our core values are creating solutions which benefit our overall environment (climate, humanity, and economy) in the most feasible and strategic ways.  We aim to connect the dots to collaborate with existing and upcoming technologies, expanding our horizons beyond our imagination.  Therefore, we decided to start this project with Dan Sloat and his team.  It’s a perfect match.  The work Dan does is highly valued.  He is also a visionary forward thinker who looks in the same direction as us.

We chose to design an alternative to the ferry route from Bainbridge Island to Seattle, plus the ground traffic from Seattle to Redmond to support the employees of the corporate headquarters of Microsoft.There are almost 53,000 employees travelling each day over waterways and congested roadways. It makes this air transportation alternative a fascinating user case for us.  Soon, after a long day of work, the daily commute of around 40km will take only 10 min instead of 90min.  The SkyBus can take off from a landing pad (aka vertiport) at the Microsoft campus straight and land at a vertiport pad on the island. The future is faster and more feasible than we realise.”

Dan Sloat, President/Founder of the AAM Institute commented: “We are honoured to engage in a strategic partnership with LYTE Aviation. Its LA-44 SkyBus is a very promising eVTOL design and with a passenger capacity 10 times that of most competitors, we are confident LYTE can bring about meaningful change in transportation in terms of greater equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Freshta Farzam isn't afraid of asking bold questions, which is precisely why she will be successful. The AAM Institute welcomes collaboration with dreamers and disruptors like Freshta. Together, we can change the world.”