Total Investment Required

Creating a new aircraft is generally an expensive and long-drawn-out process, largely because of Certification. Typical times are around 5 to 6 years for a new aircraft type. Looking at other competing aircraft such as the Joby, launch cost numbers in the range from $500M to $1.6B appear. Horizon’s current estimates for the Autocopter come out at around $800M at constant 2021 costs.

The Horizon Helicopters Business Plan gives details of the total investment required, broken down into four tranches or stages:

• Pre-digital certification
• Design and development up to Preliminary Design approval
• Detail design, prototype build, flight test and Provisional Certification approval
• Productization, Full Certification and an assembly facility able to handle up to 500 aircraft per year.

Accompanying this are estimates of aircraft to be sold, EBIT numbers, the market place, staff, timelines, milestones etc.