Before being appointed Wisk’s CEO last year, you were responsible for Boeing’s work in advanced air mobility. What were your first impressions of this space?
I was working on this area before it was even called Advanced Air Mobility. Coming out of MIT, I joined Aurora Flight Sciences, where we focused on automation and sustainability—two major trends shaping the future of aviation. We worked on making aircraft more automated and sustainable, both for piloted and uncrewed airplanes. These two trends—automation for safety and sustainability—are critical for the future of aviation. It's not just about making planes more efficient, but also decarbonizing the industry and making aviation safer and more accessible.
Yes, activities have ramped up significantly in recent years. Back when I started my PhD, the big focus was on fuel efficiency. Since the dawn of the commercial jet age, the amount of fuel used per passenger mile has dropped by about 80%. This is a huge achievement. But now, it’s clear that fuel efficiency alone won’t get us to net-zero emissions. We need to change the energy sources that power airplanes. That’s why there's growing interest in sustainable fuels, electrification, and hydrogen.
The eVTOL space is becoming increasingly crowded. How does Wisk Aero differentiate itself from many other competitors?
The primary differentiator for Wisk is that we are focused on uncrewed aircraft. We are designing the first autonomous airplane that is a candidate for FAA certification. Like many others, it’s battery-electric, but what sets us apart is that it’s completely autonomous. This autonomy positions us uniquely in the industry, as most competitors are still focused on piloted designs. We're excited about how this will play out in the future as the industry evolves.
While we all aspire to compete, the reality is that no one is really competing yet. Competition comes when you're in the market, not just in technology development. Right now, the goal is certification. Once we’re all certified, then we’ll start competing in the marketplace, and I think Wisk will do well. It will be an exciting day when we can all finally compete in the market, but right now, it’s about getting our aircraft certified and ready for commercial use.
Wisk has the financial backing of Boeing, which appears to be a huge advantage, but certification is key to eVTOL success. Given the recent safety scandals at Boeing, are you concerned?
Every capitalization strategy has its pros and cons, but being backed by Boeing is a huge advantage for us. The technologies we’re developing can influence other aircraft across the Boeing family, potentially impacting half of the global airplane fleet. That’s a powerful position to be in. However, it’s always a challenge to keep a long-term hardware project like this funded. It’s a 10-year-plus endeavor, and every funding pathway has its challenges. But I’m excited about the technology we’re building and how it can influence larger airplanes and the broader aviation industry.
We operate as an independent subsidiary so haven’t felt any knock-on impact, but we have a lot of Boeing colleagues directly contributing to our program. From observing them, I believe these circumstances have brought those subjects into focus and made everyone double down on safety and quality when it comes to the development of new products. The culture in aviation is a forever striving profession and the people on the frontier of building the technologies that will matter tomorrow enjoy the fact that the goal is perfection. It’s hard to name another industry where the goal is perfection.
Noise is one concern from the community, but the driverless vehicle is a relatively new concept. How do you plan to gain community support for an unmanned, autonomous aircraft?
There are two key things we need to do: we need to be safe, and we need to provide demonstrable value to communities. The public expects zero accidents, and while large commercial aviation has almost achieved that, small aircraft don’t yet have that safety record. We aim to reach similar safety levels with our autonomous aircraft. We also need to show that our systems are quiet, have zero emissions, and bring real value by saving people time. Once we start proving that in various communities, demand will grow, and more people will want these systems in their cities.
The autonomous solution isn’t driven by the pilot shortage; it’s driven by safety. In the small airplane space, automation can address the main causes of accidents. By automating, we can eliminate many of the risks that come from human error. Additionally, by centralizing control of the aircraft, we can create a much more flexible and efficient transportation network. This flexibility adds a lot of value, making the system more efficient than having a pilot with each aircraft at all times.
This year you announced a 12-month memorandum with the Houston Airport System. As you pursue certification, what markets will you be targeting with Wisk's aircraft?
While people often use the term "urban air mobility," I find it limiting. Our aircraft are versatile and can operate in areas beyond city centers. They can cover distances up to 150 kilometers, so they're not purely urban aircraft. Houston is a good example—our recent 12-month partnership with their airport system shows how these aircraft can start operating in places where infrastructure is already in place, demonstrating the value of the technology without needing to build entirely new systems from scratch.
Certification is the biggest challenge right now. In the aviation industry, everything hinges on being certified. If you’re certified, you can operate; if you’re not, you can’t. It’s a binary system. The certification process is highly regulated, and that’s what makes aviation safe. But it’s also the challenge that every new product faces. We’re laser-focused on getting through this regulatory hurdle so we can start providing commercial services.
