Overair, an aircraft company developing an all-electric flying taxi in collaboration with ride-hailing giant Uber, has a new 94,000-square-foot headquarters facility in Santa Ana with the actual move-in date for the team still to be determined because of COVID-19.
The new spot, an industrial facility a few blocks from Segerstrom High School, is among the larger leases in Orange County in recent months.
“Employees continue to work from home due to COVID guidelines, but will begin transitioning back into the office as OC conditions allow,” said Chief Commercial Officer Ryan Doss. He said the company gained access to the building in early July to begin setup and take deliveries, while “the date of the team’s move-in hasn’t been set yet as we adjust in real time to COVID in OC.”
He said the new facility will support the development, fabrication, and integration of the air taxi and serve as company headquarters.
Karem Aircraft of Lake Forest, headed by renowned aviation developer Abe Karem, spun off Overair as a separate company to work with Uber on the flying taxi project.
“We operate independently from Uber but we do collaborate on some technology and ecosystem development activities, in addition to designing vehicles to meet their detailed operational requirements,” Doss said.
South Korea’s Hanwha Systems has backed the project with $25 million in Series A funding.
“We look forward to using the facility to achieve our vision of a safe, quiet, affordable all-electric aerial mobility service,” Doss told the Business Journal last month.
Butterfly Design
The plan is to make a passenger-friendly adaptation of Karem’s core military-focused technology, one which “will enable aerial ride-sharing customers to dramatically shorten their commutes and avoid traffic in densely populated urban markets.”
The vehicles are called Butterfly, and are expected to be significantly quieter than typical helicopters.
The company, whose new facility is at 3001 S. Susan St., has been making progress despite the pandemic.
“Overair has been performing well, even in the current challenging environment. Development of the Butterfly air taxi has continued this year as our team has matured the design of the vehicle and its key subsystems and components,” Doss said by email on Aug. 14 in response to questions.
“We’ve been happy with our progress across all areas including aerodynamics, acoustics, structures, power systems, propulsion, flight controls, avionics systems, certification, operations, and support,” according to Doss.
Despite the adjustments to the short-term timeline, “over the course of a several yearlong program, we don’t anticipate a large impact to our schedule,” the Overair chief commercial officer said. “We are still targeting market entry in the middle of this decade.”
Local Cluster
“The city of Santa Ana has been supportive and we look forward to drawing from the area’s talent pool as we continue to grow,” according to Doss.
Company founder Karem is dubbed the “drone father” for his development of the Predator drone device that revolutionized aerial warfare, making him one of the most fabled figures in contemporary aerial warfare.
Other companies in OC have headed into the air taxi and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) space.
Irvine-based Aria Group is moving into the air taxi development market with airframes and fiber composite components.
Dzyne Technologies of Irvine designs unmanned aircraft, including VTOL-type products.
Not far from John Wayne Airport, Anduril Industries founder Palmer Luckey said earlier this year his military-oriented company is heading into VTOL work.
