BETA Technologies Plans Electric Aircraft Flights Over Lake Champlain for Medical Supplies, Tests Underway in North Carolina and Texas
Why It MattersThe trials signal electric aircraft moving from pilot testing toward operational medical-logistics use, positioning fixed-wing eVTOL variants as a lower-cost complement to helicopter fleets facing rising costs.
BETA Technologies, based in South Burlington, and Metro Aviation have proposed using electric aircraft to carry medical equipment and blood products across Lake Champlain, linking UVM Health hospitals on both sides, including Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in Plattsburgh and Elizabethtown Community Hospital. Burlington's airport and Plattsburgh's airport sit roughly 20 miles apart by air, while the ground route requires a ferry or a long drive around the lake. The Lake Champlain flights were selected in March for the federal eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), run by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the FAA, as part of a larger Port Authority of New York and New Jersey-led project also involving Archer, Joby, Electra and Wisk. In a September 30 written statement, BETA said the Vermont flights have not yet launched and that it is working with the Port Authority to finalize a start date.
While the Lake Champlain service awaits launch, BETA and Metro have begun similar test flights elsewhere. Since September 17, BETA has flown simulated medical cargo deliveries to rural sites in North Carolina with Metro, ECU Health and WakeMed. In Texas, BETA and Metro flew with Washington County EMS in Brenham in September, testing how the aircraft could transport disaster-response equipment alongside the county's existing helicopter and ambulances. All tests use BETA's ALIA CTOL, which requires a runway and operates airport to airport; a vertical-takeoff version able to land at hospital helipads is planned later, with Metro having placed a deposit-backed order for up to 20 of those aircraft in November 2024.
Metro Aviation already operates UVM Health's medical helicopter, based in Burlington since August 23, 2018. Metro Vice President Todd Stanberry told Vertical magazine in November 2024 that helicopter purchase and maintenance costs are on a "45-degree incline" while Medicare and Medicaid payments remain flat or declining, and the electric plane is intended initially as a lower-cost alternative for moving supplies rather than patients. BETA's first eIPP flight, in July, carried a genetically modified pig heart between airports to test organ transport, and the company says it has now flown program missions in five states. BETA's headquarters and factory are at Burlington airport, and it has operated a flight test center at Plattsburgh's airport since 2017, where it announced a $41 million expansion in 2023, with $20 million contributed by New York State.
