News and Announcements
Martin Aircraft Hoping to Transform Daily Commute into the Clouds
- Published January 11, 2017 12:00AM UTC
- Publisher Wholesale Investor
- Categories Company Updates
Martin Aircraft Company, based in New Zealand, have been working on developing jetpacks for years. Their current gas-powered prototype can fly up to 2,500 feet and travels at 40kph with staying aloft for about 30 minutes.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- A price for one of their jetpacks hasn’t been announced, but is expected to start well above $100,000 once its ready to hit the market.
- Peter Coker, previously the company’s CEO is now an executive for their Chinese shareholder KuangChi Science Limited, recently told the BBC that he thinks jetpacks will be part of future cities.
- KuangChi launchedan investment fund worth $250 million, which it will use to support research in.
“We’re trying to make the world’s easiest-to-fly aircraft,” Martin Aircraft’s then-CEO Richard Lauder told Discovery News in 2013, when the company was talking about putting its jetpack into production. At that point, the goal was to create “a Segway for the sky.” Although the company has made progress since then, including obtaining certifications for manned test flights, the jetpacks aren’t ready for everyday takeoff.
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