February 17th, Asian Express Aviation Group signed the MOU with TCab Tech for the order of 50 E20 eVTOL aircraft. Attendees at the meeting were Asian Express Aviation Group Chairman, Mr. LIU Qing (2nd person from the left), Vice President of Asian Express Aviation Group Mr. YANG Li (1st person from the left), Founder and CEO of TCab Tech, Mr. Yon Wui NG (3rd person from the left), and Co-founder and CMO of TCab Tech, Mr. JIANG Jun (4th person from the left).
Vice President of Asian Express Aviation Group, Mr. GOU Jiuhong, and the General Manager of Shandong Asian Express, Mr. LIU Quan also joined the meeting. Both companies were delighted about the potential of the eVTOL industry and the Chinese aerial ridesharing opportunities.
Asian Express Aviation Group expressed their views that the E20 is the right aircraft to penetrate into the Chinese aerial ridesharing market because:
a. The E20 is designed for short-range travel between 30 - 150 kilometers, it can be a good extension for Asian Express Aviation’s existing aerial-sightseeing and short-range transport offerings.
b. The E20 selling price and maintenance cost are much lower than the existing helicopters, which reduce the riding price towards that of a conventional taxi when operating at scale.
c. With much lower noise in flight, the E20’s operations in the tourist spots and/or in the cities can have better public acceptance.
d. With cruising speed of 260 km/h and maximum cruising speed of 320km/h, the E20 is superior to other eVTOL configurations because its travelling time is much shorter than what its counterparts can offer.
By adding the E20 to the existing fleet, Asian Express Aviation Group intends to expand its low-altitude flights, in particular the large and currently under-served tourism markets. Additionally, E20 could complement Asian Express Aviation Group's inter modal transportation offering serving the 300-500km inter-cities business to provide safe and convenient air mobility services to the public. The meeting also discussed how Asian Express Aviation Group could become the MRO service provider for the E20 in China.
Asian Express Aviation Group is a leading diversified aviation industry group in China, with wholly owned, controlled, or authorized management of more than ten enterprises such as Inner Mongolia Express Airlines, Hunan Asian Express General Aviation, Wuxi Asian Express General Aviation Co., Ltd., Shandong Asian Express General Aviation Co., Ltd., and Jiangxi Express Commuter Aviation Co., Ltd. It holds CCAR-91, CCAR-135, CCAR-145, and CCAR-147 operation qualifications and is the largest strategic partner and authorized service center of Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. in East Asia. As a pioneer and practitioner of short-distance transportation and commercial parachuting in China, Asian Express Aviation Group leads the industry for short-distance transportation, aerial photography and surveillance, and low-altitude consumer transportation services since it started operations in 2018. Currently, Asian Express operates more than thirty Pilatus aircraft.
