Scott Pomeroy, CEO of XTI Aerospace, Inc., was recently a guest on Benzinga's All-Access.
XTI was founded with the vision of bringing to market an advanced technology aircraft that combines the speed, range and comfort of a fixed-wing airplane with the convenience of vertical takeoff and landing. With fast point-to-point air travel over long distances, the TriFan 600 fulfills that vision. It will hopefully save passengers hours of total trip time on almost every trip by eliminating the need to travel on the ground to and from an airport. You'll be able to take off and land wherever it's safe and legal.
XTI was founded with the vision of bringing to market an advanced technology aircraft that combines the speed, range and comfort of a fixed-wing airplane with the convenience of vertical takeoff and landing. With fast point-to-point air travel over long distances, the TriFan 600 fulfills that vision. It will hopefully save passengers hours of total trip time on almost every trip by eliminating the need to travel on the ground to and from an airport. You'll be able to take off and land wherever it's safe and legal.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Scott, good morning. Welcome to the show. What a cool background you've got in the
00:07back. Good morning. I did that just for you. You know what? My producer yells at me all
00:13the time because I don't have anything as cool. So let me know who you've got hooking
00:16you up and we can make something work. But thank you so much for joining me this morning.
00:20It's always great to talk about the aerospace. But for the folks at home that might not be
00:24familiar with the company, give us a quick overview. Will do. Thanks again, Zenaid, for
00:30having me on this morning. The company XTIA was founded really with the vision of bringing to
00:37market an advanced technology aircraft that combines the speed, the range, the comfort of
00:44a fixed-wing aircraft with the convenience and efficiency of a helicopter, vertical takeoff
00:52and landing. So that the vertical takeoff and landing sector within aerospace has gotten a lot
00:58of attention of late. And we are part of that sector. Now, to me, the helicopter, obviously,
01:06one advantage is, hey, you don't really need a runway, right? Like a plane, like we often see
01:10when we go to the airport. Are there any other advantages to the combo of like the vertical
01:15takeoff and then the traditional fixed-wing flight order? Yeah, well, you highlighted the
01:21most important one is we are true point-to-point travel. We make true point-to-point travel
01:28possible insofar as we can land anywhere where it's safe and legal. So whether it's helipads,
01:35whether it's the cul-de-sac in your street. So you think about the use cases for EMS
01:42and just convenient travel, we have that ability. We also, our aircraft also can
01:49take off and land conventionally. So we've got landing gear and we can use a runway
01:53just like any other fixed-wing aircraft. But we have that added benefit of that point-to-point
01:59travel. And for a lot of users, it eliminates the need for multiple aircraft. Oftentimes,
02:06operators, regional operators have to move passengers via helicopter from helipad to FBO.
02:13And then from FBO, you pick up your fixed-wing aircraft. We can eliminate one of those legs
02:20and thereby really reduce the time significantly for travel. Now, I love the word legal that you
02:29used earlier. That kind of made me chuckle. It's like, yeah, you know, my imagination would go
02:33crazy if I got a chance to pilot one of those things, which I have. Obviously not what you've
02:37got, but I did take a flight discovery session course, whatever you want to call it, maybe like
02:43three, four years ago, because it was a dream of mine to be a pilot. Then I hopped on and there
02:47were so many procedures and buttons. And I was like, I know I'm going to stick to just interviewing
02:52and just making my life easier. So that's interesting there. But let's talk about your
02:56target market. Who are you going after? What's the game plan? Yeah. So we actually, we have
03:03roughly over 700 pre-orders today. And it's from a variety of customers and geographic locations.
03:12So around the world and with a roughly $10 million aircraft, that's $7 billion in forward
03:19orders that come in the form of conditional sales orders. So I want to be clear about that. But
03:27we have utility to regional operators, to transporters, to regional airlines,
03:37individuals that we've found. And again, the medical, the EMS, medical emergency delivery,
03:47as you think about the flight for life and our ability to expand the range and the speed by
03:53which we can address that golden hour for the medical community. So we've seen a lot of interest
04:01from that sector. And then let's talk about the development of the, I believe it's called the
04:05Trifan 600. Where are we with that? Yeah. So the typical development of an aircraft runs through
04:13really three or four phases. Okay. You get to your initial design that gives way and begets
04:22your preliminary, what they call PDR or preliminary design review. And in that phase,
04:29you're actually really solidifying much of your, and you're cementing your design itself. Then you
04:36move into what they call CDR or critical design review. It's where you're actually working
04:43closely with your vendor partners, whether that's, there are roughly 30 subsystems on this aircraft
04:51from engines to transmissions, to wings, to deducted fans. And you're working with your
04:58suppliers in that context. And in the CDR phase, you're getting, you're actually getting to the
05:03point where you're machining parts for the aircraft. And then you move into a phase three,
05:08which is really about your test line. All of this is done under the purview of the FAA
05:16that is moving through this process with you to ensure safety and efficiency. The whole objective
05:24of this is to get to a type certification by the FAA that qualifies the aircraft, both for
05:31safety and effectiveness of the aircraft itself, as well as your manufacturing processes.
05:38So you're referring to two different elements. Yeah. And I apologize if you did mention a date
05:42and I didn't capture it, but was there a date that you kind of had in mind for the certification? Or
05:48is it kind of like, Hey, we're dependent on the FAA and we don't really have a good idea at the
05:51moment? You know, we are, we are dependent on the, on the FAA, but you can, you know, you can
05:57look at this as a, you know, typically that test testing and certification phase is probably three
06:04to five years in to the design aspect. So we've, we've completed you know, our initial PDR and
06:13looking to move into the, and your question kind of where we were in the process. Yeah. You know,
06:19we're also re-benchmarking that PDR that's often done. You go back and you learn new things about
06:25the aircraft. You revisit certain aspects of the performance targets. You start with level zero
06:33criteria that you want to have the aircraft perform to. And that's where we established
06:40that the aircraft will fly 350 miles per hour, 700 miles at an altitude of 25,000 feet.
06:49And that number is, is an intentional number. It gets you above most weather conditions. We've,
06:56we'll, this aircraft will fly under IFR or, you know, for those that don't know all the acronyms
07:01in the, in the industry, it's instrument flight rules. So when you, you juxtapose us against
07:08other VTOL aircraft that are out there, they're much shorter ranges, much slower speeds,
07:15much lower altitudes and, and really much lower payloads. See, this is why you do what you do,
07:23because when you mentioned the stats of the range, I'm thinking, oh, 700 miles can get me from here
07:27to like Louisiana, where you're like, ah, that's great. But like, let's focus on the weather,
07:30which is why we have the altitude of where the flight has to kind of be at. When it comes to
07:36this market space, right, how does your Trifan 600 kind of stack up, right? Same question I asked
07:42a previous guest, what gives you kind of the advantage? Is it the range? Is it the altitude?
07:47Is it the speed? Or is it something else? It really is all of the above, which,
07:52which differentiates us. So in the vertical takeoff and landing space, it's largely dominated
07:57by electric driven power players. And they, they've adopted batteries. Some are, some are
08:04looking at hydrogen as a mechanism. And while we are, we are staunch supporters of all that
08:11they're doing, we, we distinguish ourselves insofar as we're really still largely mechanical.
08:17Now, our, our tip to, to sustainability is really has to do with our, the fuel. So our engines will
08:25be compatible with SAF, sustainable air fuel, which, which we believe is, is really the,
08:35the fuel of the future. It's, it's largely underdeveloped right now, but as we develop
08:40the aircraft, we're, we're hopeful that it, you know, we're in tandem with, with the rest of the
08:45market development of SAF. But we, you know, we did look at, at a hybrid derivative of, of the
08:51aircraft along the way. And, and quite candidly, the, you know, the technology battery hydrogen is
08:58just not advanced enough for this size of an aircraft. It's why you see the, you know, a lot
09:04of the small drones or the very small air taxis are adopting electric technology because it just,
09:13we're just not there. We're hopeful that we'll evolve and advance in that area and we'll be,
09:19you know, we'll be paying close attention to that and adopting it as we can because we are
09:25very big believers in sustainability relative to the aircraft. But, but for now we've got a
09:30mechanical design and, and are looking to demonstrate the utility of the vertical takeoff
09:35and landing capabilities first with the aircraft. Now, I do have a question from the chat and I'll
09:40kind of rephrase it because I know there's certain things that you can comment on certain things you
09:43can't. So there's a question, but I'll kind of rephrase it if you'd like in the sense of sometimes
09:48the market misses things, right? Sometimes you're focused on maybe the next thing and they're not
09:51really patient with what's happening within one company, not just yours, but in general. So what
09:56do you think the market is missing in terms of evaluating your company properly to where you
10:01may believe that it should be? I know you're focused on execution, but just the idea would
10:05be great. Yeah. It's a, it's a, it's a fantastic question. And, and obviously as a CEO, you,
10:10you contemplate that a lot. You know, what is the, you know, what is the market? And sometimes it's,
10:15you know, for us, we, we we ended up here as a, as a consequence of a reverse merger. So I,
10:21I'd argue to a certain extent there's an overhang of the history as much as anything
10:29that we are not, you know, your, your grandfather's Oldsmobile, right? We're,
10:36we are not the same company and we are fundamentally different. We did release as
10:41part of our our public information, you know, a third party fairness opinion that, that had us
10:46significantly valued, significantly higher, multiple, you know, multiples of 10 or 20 times
10:51where we currently trade, which I would argue is much closer. And that's, that's based on
10:56comparables. That's based on the market and, and where these companies were at the same point.
11:03You know, companies like Joby, like Lilium, like Archer as, as they evolved and developed
11:10in their pre-revenue stage. And so part of that becomes incumbent on, on me and the company
11:16to get out and educate folks. And that's why I really appreciate being here with you this morning
11:21as, as we get that opportunity to tell, tell our story. And because it is a significant multiple of
11:30from a valuation standpoint of where we are and, you know, we will, we will endeavor to get out and,
11:36and, and make sure we're, we're just educated. Well, we appreciate your time here. Before I let
11:41you go, I will kind of give the floor to you. If there was anything else that you wanted to talk
11:45about, anything I did not bring up, any recent events with the company that you'd like to share
11:49with our viewers, the floor is yours. Yeah, thanks. No, I would just, you know, I would just
11:54seek to put a, an emphasis and an exclamation point on, on the point we were just talking about,
12:00right? Is, is the, is the market, I'd love for the market to really focus on, on who we are now,
12:08as of effective on March 13th of this year. So it's, we're only, you know, we're, we're an infant
12:13at two months old and exposing who we are, but it's an extraordinary, we're at an extraordinary
12:19time in, in transportation. And, and, and on the look back, we will see that this inflection point
12:26was very significant as we, as we looked at, at changing air travel in ways that we haven't,
12:32we haven't seen in over a hundred years, whether it's the air taxis, whether it's aircraft like
12:36ours. And so we're excited about where we are in the process, the, the aircraft that we have,
12:44it's utility functionality, and we're excited about the future.