Aerospace Giant Boeing Invests In Tech Startup Which Develops Hybrid Electric Aircraft

A mechanical engineer from IIT Delhi is all ready to develop hybrid electric aircraft in the U.S. His startup company Zunum Aero has already received investments from aerospace giant Boeing and the airline JetBlue.

Ashish Kumar, a former student of IIT Delhi and founder of Washington-based startup Zunum Aero is developing regional hybrid electric aircraft. He expressed his happiness after Boeing and JetBlue made a decision to back his company.

He said: “I consider (myself) very fortunate to have backers like JetBlue and Boeing. It has been a year that we are engaged with both the companies and we all are passionate to reinvent regional air travel.”

Kumar’s Zunum Aero will be using all its funding to further develop its regional aircraft that will be carrying around 10 to 50 passengers for flights up to 1,000 miles. The proposed aircraft will operate on battery power with an aviation diesel extended power generator as back up.

The hybrid planes company Zunum claims that their aircraft will have 80% lower emissions. The low operating costs of these planes will allow airlines to offer low fares to its customers.

Ashish Kumar has held many leadership roles at places like Microsoft, Google, Dell and also McKinsey. He has a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University. He also worked as a professor of engineering at Brown University during the early days of his career.