AIR today announced its expansion into the cargo and logistics market with its new, unmanned ONE Cargo eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft. In the last year, the OEM of midsize eVTOLs says it has secured multiple deals to supply the unmanned version of its flagship ONE for cargo purposes while maintaining its role in the high-volume general aviation market.

The additional purchase orders have significantly boosted the company’s revenue projections for 2024 and 2025. Having already delivered the first cargo aircraft, AIR is set to continue fulfilling the purchase orders for the remaining ONE Cargo units throughout 2024 and the first half of 2025. The company says that its “exponential growth” in revenue since expansion into cargo and logistics—in addition to its manned, “personal use” variant—demonstrates its “great promise” as it continues pursuing mass eVTOL production.

“Venturing into this new market with AIR ONE Cargo is a testament to our unwavering commitment to the integration of eVTOLs into all spheres of daily life for a variety of use cases,” said Rani Plaut, CEO and Co-founder of AIR. “We expanded our offerings in response to strong market demand, and the feedback we’ve already received affirms that AIR ONE’s robust capabilities and simple, cost-effective design make it an extremely agile platform, uniquely able to scale across different uses.”

AIR says the ONE Cargo bolsters the maturation of its products and design concepts, contributing valuable flight hours toward safety verification. The cargo aircraft also aids in achieving scaled production volume, leveraging the company’s automotive-based production line, methodologies, and automated manufacturing systems.

Capable of taking off and landing vertically while carrying a 550 lb (250 kg) payload, the all-electric ONE Cargo offers a “practical long range” on a single charge at speeds comparable to the manned passenger variant of ONE. This offering marks the latest milestone for AIR, which announced its participation in the U.S. Air Force’s AFWERX Agility Prime program in December to drive flight testing and additional R&D efforts in the U.S.

Founded by Chen Rosen, Netanel Goldberg, and Plaut, AIR says it is on a mission to pave “the way for a cleaner, more thrilling future of mobility, affording everyone the freedom to fly.”

The company continues to amass significant flight test hours with its full-scale prototypes after proving all phases of flight. With 1170 ONE vehicles for personal use already reserved via preorder and a waiting list, AIR plans to deliver the first batch of aircraft to consumers following aircraft certification.

In February, AIR announced a partnership with Nidec Motor Corp. to develop the motor for the ONE production aircraft. Specifically for mid-sized eVTOL aircraft, which is said to fill a void in the burgeoning AAM (advanced air mobility) industry, the motor is being custom-engineered to support the single-charge journeys of up to 100 mi (160 km) that the ONE offers. Funded by the BIRD Energy program of the BIRD Foundation (Israel-U.S Binational Industrial R&D Foundation) to support innovative joint clean-energy U.S.-Israel collaborations, the resulting enhanced-efficiency motor will be incorporated into ONE’s continued flight testing and eventually into AIR’s production practices.

“We’re excited to merge Nidec’s motor expertise and global manufacturing capabilities with AIR’s revolutionary eVTOL to deliver advanced motor capabilities to the individual consumers who wish to fly,” said Vincent Braley, CEO of Nidec Aerospace.