US sustainable aircraft developer Electra.aero has promoted James 'JP' Stewart to vice president and general manager. He was previously Electra's director of programmes and joined the company in the autumn of 2020, shortly after its founding.

“JP is a respected member of Electra's team, with both the leadership acumen and the technical expertise to guide the company's exponential growth,” says founder and CEO John S Langford. “I'm excited to collaborate with JP as he leads the Electra team through the first flight of the full technology demonstrator aircraft later this year, and beyond through aircraft certification to commercial production of Electra's hybrid-electric ultra-short take off and landing (eSTOL) aircraft.”

“I joined Electra to be a part of a brilliant and high-energy group of people driven to bring these revolutionary aircraft into the world, and I am humbled by the opportunity to lead this team,” adds Stewart.

Previously, Stewart was senior technical programme manager at Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing Company, where he led the development of an eVTOL aircraft for Porsche and before that was the propulsion test and solar array lead for Aurora's Odysseus solar-powered aircraft. Earlier in his career, Stewart founded a company to collect and process aerial imagery through the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute.

A graduate of Virginia Tech, Stewart was selected in college as an Aviation Week & Space Technology '20 Twenties' laureate, awarded to the top 20 people in aerospace in their 20s. He is an avid pilot and flight instructor with more than 1,600 flight hours, and a member of the US Soaring Team that has competed in four World Gliding Championships.