AAM Spotlight: Overair’s Valerie Manning

A spinoff from Karem Aircraft, Overair is a California-based startup aiming to certify its five-passenger, ultra-quiet electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicle (eVTOL) called “Butterfly” with the FAA, with a planned service entry in 2027.

The company’s chief commercial officer, Valerie Manning, a former Airbus executive, U.S. Air Force officer, flight instructor and jet-rated pilot, spoke to the AAM Report recently about her new role and shared some thoughts about the advanced air mobility sector. Excerpts follow:

AAM Report: What are your major priorities as chief commercial officer?

Manning: Right now, my role is falling into two main buckets. Number One has been doing a lot of work on company governance topics, defining the kinds of processes, methods and tools that will enable us to succeed long-term. And then in terms of going to market, there are really two sides to it: one is getting the aircraft ready for the customer and the other is getting the customer ready for the aircraft. That means getting the policies, analyses and infrastructure support and services all in place, and I work on all these on a daily basis. With the team, I also make sure the aircraft is fit for purpose—defining the product, the performance, the strategic suppliers, sorting through RFPs and making selections—really pulling together the different multidisciplinary things within the company. 

How big of a challenge is it to fund this industry given current investor sentiment?

It’s definitely a challenge. The whole industry does need to be funded and it’s obviously not funding itself yet. I actually think all the hype from 2021 hurts us now, although it probably hurts Overair a bit less than some of the others because we’re not a public company and we’ve always been playing the long game. But stock prices are down quite a bit and some companies will probably go out of business, which is what you usually see during periods of rapid innovation. I think there’s a general weariness around this industry. People are doubting that we’re serious, and that’s a big hurdle to overcome. So, as a serious company, we really have to argue that case and that’s the first 15 min. of every conversation I’m having. It’s frustrating, but people are recognizing it’s tough and I think everyone’s starting to stand up a little straighter and be more serious about the realities of going to market with this new technology. And that’s a positive sign.

What are your thoughts on public acceptance more broadly?

For one thing, I think we have to make sure we differentiate eVTOLs—large passenger-carrying vehicles that are going from Point A to Point B—from the kinds of small drones that will drop off a package in someone’s backyard or take pictures over a stadium. It’s really an important distinction and difference, and unfortunately I think that’s been lost on many people. That’s a problem because it could drive regulations that are not totally applicable, and it also makes people nervous when they associate drones with spying and privacy concerns. And as a result, we sometimes see people rushing to put things into place, like local ordinances, with the ‘not in my backyard’ mentality, and that’s completely premature. They need to wait and see these aircraft flying, hear how quiet they are and get all the facts in front of them before they leap to conclusions. We just need the time to be able to prove this to people, and hopefully that time will be given to us.

What is the main use case for the Butterfly?

Without a doubt, the holy grail of eVTOL will be ride-sharing. If you can decide to go somewhere, get a quick car ride to the vertiport, seamlessly board an eVTOL and get to where you need to go, that capability will really allow the industry to scale worldwide. That’s part of the reason why we have a large cabin and can carry one more passenger than most of our competitors. We’re really working on the software and infrastructure to enable this kind of frictionless, intermodal travel. That’s how you really scale up the business up to thousands of aircraft a year. However, we are going to have a diversified business strategy, both because our vehicle meets some unique needs and because there will be earlier use cases. So, we think about use cases in a handful of categories: ridesharing, which also includes VIP and tourism; airport-to-shuttle services; and then cargo, military and medivac, where we see some interesting early applications. In the long term, we will probably do more carrying people than cargo but early on, I am very open to carrying more cargo than people, if that’s what makes sense.

Do you see hybrid or fuel-cell propulsion as the logical next step for the Butterfly?

I think so. In the end, we’re battery-operated because it’s the “E” part in eVTOL, right? But longer-term, our thinking is that any way we can increase the ability to store and draw power, in a way that is still socially responsible, is of great interest to us. As that technology adopts and we can store it to the right weight inside the aircraft, we can use it. Of course, we’d need some major redesigns, but we definitely do anticipate something like that, especially on the military side, because there you really need the better range and persistence if we’re going to be performing those cargo or logistics missions.

You have talked before about the need for more diversity in the aerospace sector. How does that apply to advanced air mobility?

I think it’s especially challenging because this is a startup industry and there are risks and the future is uncertain, so that can make it difficult for many people to get involved. But I also see a real opportunity to create new local jobs for local people. If you have an urban operation, I think the people you employ should live there in the local community. They’re not going to be commuting hours away from home to operate these vehicle—they’ll be locally based. So I think it’s very important that we are sourcing the people in the communities where we’ll be operating, and that gives us an amazing opportunity to introduce a very diverse workforce.