Israeli electric aircraft set for Australian skies

Want a flying car? Got a spare $400,000 burning a hole in your pocket? Well 25 cutting-edge electric aircraft manufactured by Israeli startup AIR will arrive in Australia over the next year through a newly announced partnership with Perth-based aviation company FlyOnE.

The AIR ONE vehicles are sporty two-seater electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft that can operate from any flat surface, reaching speeds up to 250 km/h with a range of 180 km on a single charge.

“We are thrilled to expand our reach to Australia, a trailblazing market with very high growth potential, with the help of such a forward-thinking partner as FlyOnE,” says AIR CEO and co-founder Rani Plaut.

The partnership represents a significant milestone for Australia’s emerging electric aviation sector, with FlyOnE founder and CEO Korum Ellis positioning the company as a pioneer in introducing next-generation aircraft technology to the Australian market.

Ellis, whose Perth-based company has secured over 40 pre-orders with financial commitments, believes around five to 10 will translate into realistic sales.

The aircraft will be priced between $300,000 and $400,000.

Ellis selected AIR ONE from approximately 750 electric aircraft development projects worldwide, citing its practical design and likelihood of market success.

“Its key feature is simplicity. It doesn’t have tilting rotors, so those rotors that you see in the picture are fixed in their angle of pitch, and they just accelerate in speed, in RPM, to create a differential drive,” Ellis explained.

The aircraft’s wing design provides significant efficiency advantages, potentially increasing performance by up to 30 per cent during forward flight compared to wingless competitors.

AIR has addressed storage concerns through an innovative folding wing system.

“The efficiency gained when in forward flight by having an aerofoil, increasing lift is massive,” Ellis said.

“It creates a problem with storage, which AIR have overcome by having a folding wing system, which took more design and engineering.”

AIR is constructing its manufacturing facility in northern Israel, though regional tensions have created uncertainty.

Ellis visited the factory during previous periods of conflict and remains optimistic about production timelines.

“I did go to their factory. And I went there a couple of years ago, and there were rockets exploding over Tel Aviv when I arrived … and the Iron Dome was doing its work,” Ellis recalled.

“I hope, for the sake of AIR ONE things settle down.”

The initial Australian market will target private users rather than commercial operators, with Ellis comparing potential buyers to sports car enthusiasts.

“The type of person that will buy this aircraft early on will be revheads, the sort of person that might buy a two-seater sports car that you know isn’t driving it particularly regularly but has it as a really fun toy to use in fair weather,” he said.

Ellis projects a realistic timeline of 2025-2026 for the first testing units to arrive in Australia, requiring regulatory approval before increasing volume.

The aircraft’s 180km range opens practical applications including island hopping in the Whitsundays, access to Rottnest Island from Perth, or connecting the Mornington Peninsula to the Yarra Valley for Melbourne users.

Current civil aviation regulations will limit initial operations to private use, with commercial passenger services requiring future regulatory changes.

“There’s a lot of reasons those safety regulations are in place, and they’re good reasons, and to find workarounds for that is going to be very difficult,” Ellis said, acknowledging that CBD operations remain years away due to airspace restrictions.

Ellis expects a lengthy transition period from traditional aircraft to electric alternatives, particularly for commercial operators with significant existing investments.

“It’ll be [a longer crossover] than in road vehicles [at the turn of last century], just because the cost of the asset acquisition is high and the regulatory compliance is difficult,” he explained.

“You have to rewrite safety management systems and train staff.”

The partnership represents part of a broader global trend toward electric aviation, with Israel emerging as a significant player in the sector.

Urban Aeronautics is developing the CityHawk, an SUV-sized craft for emergency services, while Eviation Aircraft’s nine-seat Alice airplane could soon begin commercial flights.

Ellis believes emerging technologies will democratise aviation access by reducing costs and complexity, potentially creating new markets for private aircraft operation.

“People that wouldn’t have been able to access traditional aviation due to high costs and high complexity, all of a sudden there’s a whole new section of the market that can operate these things safely and regularly,” he said.

The AIR ONE partnership positions Australia at the forefront of electric aviation adoption, bridging Israeli innovation with Australian market opportunities in an emerging technology sector that could reshape personal transportation.

Potential customers with a spare few hundred thousand dollars burning a hole in their pockets can place pre-orders through the AIR website.