Earnings Call Transcript - BETA Q4 2025

Operator, Operator

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the BETA Technologies Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results Conference Call. I will now hand the call over to Devon Rothman, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Devon Rothman, Head of Investor Relations

Thank you, Warren, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for BETA Technologies Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Earnings Call. Joining me today are Kyle Clark, our Founder and Chief Executive Officer; and Herman Cueto, our Chief Financial Officer. Following their prepared remarks, we will open the call for Q&A, where Kristen Costello, our Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs, will also join us. Earlier today, we issued a press release announcing our fourth quarter and full year 2025 financial results as well as our outlook for 2026. We also published our investor presentation, which is available on the Investor Relations section of our website. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that today's discussion will include forward-looking statements. These statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Please refer to our filings with the SEC for a discussion of these risks. We will also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures can be found in our earnings materials. With that, I'll turn the call over to Kyle.

Kyle Clark, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Devon, and good morning, everyone. The fourth quarter was a strong finish to a defining year for BETA. In 2025, we showed up in the air and with our customers and regulators and in the capital markets in a way that reflects the discipline and pragmatism that defined this company. We achieved several milestones in 2025 that materially advanced certification, commercialization and defense. We made meaningful progress across our certification programs with three notable achievements. We earned a Part 35 type certification for our propeller in partnership with Hartzell. We closed our G1 certification basis on the A250 vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, and we began for-credit testing on our Part 33 motor. We advanced our commercial efforts with successful customer deployments both domestically and internationally. We flew our aircraft across Europe, and we opened the Paris Air Show. We flew at Oshkosh. We set multiple world records, and we won the Pulitzer Air Race. We flew the first all-electric passenger flight in and out of JFK Airport. We completed our Phase 1 contract with General Dynamics, and our defense programs continue to grow. We also launched our strategic partnership and joint technology development program with GE. In 2025 and continuing to 2026, we are seeing significant regulatory tailwinds. In December, the Department of Transportation released the AAM National Strategy, which is very much aligned with BETA's strategy. Congress continues to invest in our future recently through the introduction of bipartisan legislation titled the Aviation Innovation and Global Competitiveness Act, which will bring increased transparency to the FAA's policy and guidance development and certification programs, which is most important for AAM technologies. This outlines a partnership between the FAA and industry that improves the predictability of their deliverables, helping with our planning while preserving the agency's gold standard for safety and oversight. Looking ahead to 2026, we are awaiting the announcement of the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, or eIPP, which is being led by the FAA and U.S. Department of Transportation. Following an executive order issued in June of 2025, this program will likely allow for early commercial operations of electric aircraft. This has the potential to be a huge opportunity for BETA by advancing our entire business model by more than a year. Already, the proposal process has highlighted excitement for electric aviation across the country with commercial operators, local governments and in rural communities. We expect selection announcements very shortly. This program presents a different opportunity to each company. Uniquely for BETA, it's not only the airplane deployments, but also the charge network, which will significantly expand over the next three years. We have submitted applications touching 41 states for different types of use cases, including cargo, medical and passenger in both our CTOL and VTOL aircraft. BETA is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this opportunity for a few reasons. First, the FAA will prioritize safety through system and aircraft maturity. We have more real-world operational experience flying electric aircraft with customers than the rest of the industry combined. Our aircraft have flown nationwide, supporting cargo, medical and passenger missions in busy airspace and in all weather, backed by a complete ecosystem of pilot training, maintenance, safety and the reliability required for commercial operations. Second, we own and operate the only UL-certified aircraft charging network. eIPP represents a major opportunity to accelerate the expansion of this network. Additionally, as the only existing charge network, we're partnering with other OEMs to identify priority charging sites required to support their proposed future eIPP missions as well. This advances our strategy to maintain ownership of the network that controls the flow of energy into electric aviation. Third, communities across the country have identified how our aircraft can meet their transportation needs today. We are honored to have our aircraft named in more applications than any other company in the industry, and we look forward to continuing to deliver for our nation, our partners and our investors. When we last spoke in December, I laid out five key performance indicators that we believe are the most effective and transparent way to track our progress. Starting with our backlog. 2025 was a commercial win for BETA for aircraft, but more uniquely in the sale of motors and other technologies to partners like Embraer Eve and General Dynamics. Over the course of the year, we added over $1 billion to our commercial aircraft backlog and separately, an additional $1 billion to our backlog of enabling technologies. Our current aircraft backlog sits at 891 aircraft in firm and option orders backed by a financial commitment. By the end of the year, we expect our commercial aircraft backlog to top $4 billion and to steadily increase our enabling technologies backlog. Next, we topped 125,000 nautical miles flown, a significant increase since last time we spoke. These miles are a demonstration of the safety and reliability of our CTOL and our VTOL aircraft. We believe this simple metric of airplanes doing what they are designed to do — to fly — will continue to differentiate BETA within AAM. For 2026, our goal is to hit 0.25 million nautical miles flown. Third, for our charge network, we've activated two new sites since we last spoke and focused the permit applications for additional sites in preparation for our eIPP and customer-driven network growth. Our goal for 2026 is to reach 150 total charge sites. Fourth, on production, we are focused on building conforming articles for the first half of this year before ramping to 4.5 aircraft per month by the end of the year. These conforming articles directly support certification. We made meaningful progress across our three certification programs, particularly on our H500A electric engine. When we last spoke, we had completed the build and FAA conformity inspection of two electric engines. By the end of 2025, we completed the build and FAA conformity inspection on eleven propulsion systems, resulting in a complete set of test assets plus spares. Consistent with our certification strategy, we've started with the highest risk and longest duration test first and have completed one of the most demanding and long-duration tests, the durability test, which involved 1,000 hours of run time through a variety of environments and intermediate inspections. Endurance testing, which similarly places sustained stress on the engine, is well underway. We're continuing to make progress across the remaining certification test areas as well. Additionally, something less talked about but critical to achieving type certification is software testing. We are 85% complete with requirements-based software testing with a projected completion date of these tests by the end of April. In our CTOL program, we are now substantially complete with our means of compliance and the requirements definition phase of the project. We have completed 98% of the regs covered in the DDS collector. All but two issue papers are closed, and those remaining have been agreed to and are in the final stage of documenting the closed position. We've also made strides in the compliance planning, having submitted 17 of 20 total certification plans with nine already accepted, enabling the start of early test activities and solidifying the plan for the road to TIA and type certification. Planning for certification test activities has also started with the FAA accepting six structural test plans and 12 flight test plans. Preliminary safety assessments have been reviewed with the FAA as part of our preparation for type inspection authorization, or TIA. Our VTOL program is benefiting from our CTOL program work on means of compliance and certification plans, all of which we plan to reuse at a significant level. This transferability is enabled by the commonality of our CTOL and VTOL aircraft. We don't mark our progress until our partners at the FAA have accepted and approved our work. Our A250 engineering flight test program is continuing out of our Plattsburgh, New York facility. We are making steady progress and collecting an immense amount of data on the performance of our lift propulsion systems that support our certification efforts. Shifting to defense. The January 2026 executive order prioritizing the warfighter in defense contracting is an urgent directive to defense primes to identify and engage with advanced agile American companies that have proven ability. We have been approached by three prime defense contractors and are evaluating these opportunities. We have completed Phase 1 of our programs both with General Electric and with General Dynamics, and we hit our deliverables with Army DEVCOM. These programs were an excellent demonstration of BETA's capabilities. We are working towards the next phases, which present significantly higher revenue opportunities. Additionally, in response to growing demand signals for low-cost, flexible unmanned assets, we have accelerated our MV250 program by six months. Our partnership with GE and our ability to scale production rapidly puts us in the position to meet the nation's defense needs. The military is supporting this effort and has funded our development of autonomy and hybridization technology through a contract from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM. Each of our aircraft has been designed with acute self-awareness and a set of capabilities to unlock autonomous operations. The fly-by-wire system, which our BETA-developed flight controllers are the foundation of, can natively receive control inputs from a computer instead of a human. This is a key differentiator from other autonomous aircraft because nothing needs to be redesigned or fundamentally altered to be flown without anyone at the controls. We delivered a full shipset plus spares of lift and pusher electric engines to Eve, allowing them to successfully fly their VTOL aircraft. We have been working closely with the team at Eve and have mutually benefited from this relationship. This year will be defined by conforming aircraft, earning the first FAA type certification for our propulsion systems, more defense work, ramping production and deploying aircraft and charge systems into commercial operations. We don't expect any of this to be easy, but the team here at BETA has the grit to do the hard work and a clear vision. Herman, you're up.

Herman Cueto, Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Kyle, and good morning, everyone. Before turning to our results, I want to begin with a broader industry perspective. We are operating in one of the most constructive policy and regulatory environments our sector has seen in decades. The current administration has placed significant emphasis on domestic manufacturing, advanced air mobility and next-generation defense technologies. That focus is accelerating regulatory engagement, unlocking public-private collaboration and reinforcing the strategic importance of advanced technologies manufactured in the U.S. Within advanced air mobility, in particular, we are seeing meaningful federal alignment around certification, infrastructure development and early deployment frameworks. eIPP is a tangible example of that momentum. Here at BETA, consistent execution remains our foundation, and we continue to deploy capital with discipline and focus. Throughout 2025, the team demonstrated its ability to capitalize on opportunities with some of the most defining players in aerospace and defense, including GE, General Dynamics and Embraer Eve. Each of these relationships carries significant long-term potential, and we are already realizing financial results. Eve is a great example of that. What began as the delivery of several motors to support their flight test campaign evolved into an order worth up to $1 billion. Some of the demand we saw for our defense propulsion technologies came in the form of our selection as a partner for next-generation undersea vehicle applications. Our consistent execution and performance have strengthened our credibility and positioned us for additional work with favorable margins and durable long-term revenue. I am pleased to report full year revenue of $35.6 million for 2025, exceeding expectations and driven by stronger-than-expected component sales. This represents more than double our 2024 revenue of $15.1 million. Operating expenses in 2025 totaled $398 million compared to $283 million in 2024. This included $260 million in research and development and $138 million in general and administrative expense. Adjusted EBITDA for 2025 was negative $304 million, ahead of expectations and reinforcing our track record of disciplined expense management while advancing critical certification and commercialization milestones. For reference, 2024 adjusted EBITDA was negative $243 million. We ended the year with approximately $1.7 billion in cash, providing us with one of the strongest balance sheets in our industry and supporting our certification and commercialization roadmap. We invested $45.4 million in CapEx in 2025 versus $73.5 million in 2024. Investments were primarily in support of certification and production readiness, reflecting our continued progress in manufacturing maturity and vertical integration. One consistent observation from analysts and investors visiting our manufacturing facility is the maturity of our production lines. We are producing both CTOL and VTOL aircraft on two common lines in a facility designed to build up to 300 aircraft per year. This reflects the substantial investment already completed and positions us to scale efficiently as certification milestones are achieved. Looking ahead to 2026, we remain focused on disciplined capital allocation. We expect revenues between $39 million and $43 million, driven by the continued ramp of long-term strategic partnerships established in 2025. We expect adjusted EBITDA in the range of negative $305 million to negative $395 million as we advance certification, expand production capability and support early commercial deployments. Given our strong balance sheet, we are accelerating elements of our vertical integration strategy into 2026. This primarily reflects a pull forward of planned investments to bring key manufacturing capabilities in-house earlier and improve long-term margin profile. With that acceleration, we expect total CapEx in 2026 to be in the range of $175 million to $225 million. To provide additional context for modeling, we expect first quarter revenue to be in the range of $7 million to $10 million, reflecting the early stage ramp of several programs that we expect to accelerate as the year progresses. We have been procuring long lead materials. We expect the first quarter adjusted EBITDA to be outsized and in the range of negative $95 million to negative $110 million. This investment supports the build and the advancement of our MV250 hybrid VTOL aircraft, our VTOL and conforming CTOL aircraft. With respect to the eIPP, award selections have not yet been announced and the associated agreements will need to be negotiated. Since we do not have award visibility and negotiations are dependent on each award, we have not included any eIPP-related investments in our 2026 guidance. Should we be selected as an eIPP award recipient, we would update our guidance to reflect the associated capital deployment. Our balance sheet positions us to execute rapidly should those awards materialize. But until formal notification and contractual clarity are achieved, our outlook remains independent of eIPP. With that, operator, we are ready to open the call for questions.

Operator, Operator

Your first question comes from Kristine Liwag with Morgan Stanley.

Kristine Liwag, Analyst (Morgan Stanley)

Kyle, this is Liwag in San Francisco. I was wondering, with the IPO proceeds, you were able to raise more than double the capital you initially thought you would. Can you talk about how much the incremental capital changed your plan and your business model?

Kyle Clark, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Sure. Fundamentally, it did not change our business model at all. It allowed us to advance a few things, though. We've increased our investment in vertical integration, specifically around things that we did not previously call core enabling technologies but have become clear that we need to be world-class at. In the past, we were fully vertically integrated on the motors, the propulsion systems, the batteries, the controls and the software. We've extended that outward to have full vertical integration on the structures and other major elements of the aircraft. So that's one big investment in vertical integration. The second thing is pulling in our MV250. The proceeds were, I think, partially a product of these large engagements we've had with General Electric and General Dynamics and Embraer. Those not only created the proceeds, but they also created really clear and valuable partnerships. In the turbo generator with GE, having clarity and confidence of the propulsion systems for the MV250, coupled with the structure and a large reuse of the A250 components allowed us to accelerate that program. So the financial investment in pulling in the MV250 fundamentally advances that portion of our business model compared to what we outlined in the IPO, which is a direct result of the proceeds. Herman, do you have anything on that?

Herman Cueto, Chief Financial Officer

Yes. Kristine, just two points I would want to emphasize. When we were together in September of 2025, and we were going through the analyst model, we had CapEx in 2026 for about $70 million and in 2027 about $130 million. So the $200 million at the midpoint that we're talking about is really just a pull-in of the 2027 spend. None of this is new spend. It's all contemplated spend. It's just pulling it in by about a year. And as we had talked about, the strong balance sheet puts us in the perfect position to do this.

Kristine Liwag, Analyst (Morgan Stanley)

And following up, Kyle, in your prepared remarks you mentioned that the eIPP program pretty much brings forward the business model one year. Can you talk about what would be the most desired outcome out of eIPP? What could this look like this summer? And what could it look like in three years?

Kyle Clark, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Sure. A couple of points on that. The eIPP program isn't just about aircraft for us. It starts with the revenue and the clarity that we're already getting on the charging system deployments and the engagement with our customers. Remember, BETA's model is to sell the airplane directly to customers. That really accelerates the engagement of those customers on things that are maybe less obvious, like service, maintenance, training and all-weather operations, and getting the cadence with the aircraft earlier than we expect. On the business model itself, our baseline had completion of type certification and then those materials would go to our operator partners that would then apply for a Part 135 certificate or similar. That would require ConOps development and many other systems before a ramp into entry into service. The eIPP system allows us to pull all of that forward and concurrently develop with our partners in the Part 135s, while we ramp production. Ramping production is an engineering effort — supply chain maturity, quality systems and supplier quality all have to mature. What eIPP does is allow us to take that ramp and overlay it with the aircraft type certification program and the Part 135 development. So it has a nonlinear effect of overlapping activities and advancing timing. It is conservative to say it advances our business by a year; it could be more than that.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from Ronald Epstein with Bank of America.

Ronald Epstein, Analyst (Bank of America)

How should we think about the potential investment that would be required if things end up being very successful with eIPP, just to give folks a sense of how to model that if BETA is successful?

Herman Cueto, Chief Financial Officer

Ron, I'm anxiously awaiting to see where the ultimate awards come in. But if we were very successful in the eIPP, you could see an investment somewhere between — I'm going to give a wide range — $75 million to $125 million, something like that.

Kyle Clark, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Expanding on that, Herman said it earlier: that investment isn't a new investment. It's an advancing investment that we would have been making at a later point in time. And just like the ramping of production, the cost-out curve of early-rate, low-rate initial production aircraft to full-rate production aircraft will happen faster as well. So a lot of that investment would have happened anyway. Now we get to accelerate that while we work through type certification.

Ronald Epstein, Analyst (Bank of America)

Got it. Super clear. Kyle, you mentioned the engineering effort needed to ramp. Can you peel that back a little to give folks a feel for some of the things you're working through to get production systems where you need them to be and when you think they will need to be there?

Kyle Clark, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Yes, for sure. One insight that Sean Donovan, our Chief of Operations, brought to BETA from Tesla was that we needed to expose the issues in production early. Our strategy is to set up a production line, take, for example, our battery line or our wing line, run it at full rate for a period of time and then stop. If we had the battery line running for five days at full rate, then stopped for five weeks, we allow ourselves to expose the pinch points in the line. Then we apply production and manufacturing engineering resources, sometimes design resources, where we find those pinch points, whether it's data processing, actual assembly time, inspection, robotics, or any of those things, and we address them. That takes engineering. For example, if we had a laser welder that needs a cool down, we expose that early and then apply automation in the right places. Recently on our battery line, a plasma surface preparation system was fully automated because it was found to be a pinch point unexpectedly. That required manufacturing and production engineering to balance the line. That also reaches back to kitting and supply chain and inventory management, where we use a highly visual manufacturing system and design tools so that when screws, bolts and nuts show up on the line, they are in a way that the assembly technician will use them. It helps with our quality and speed. The last big focus has been the use of automated tools for inspection documentation, utilizing Wi-Fi connected screwdrivers to map the angle, torque and position of every screw. This drastically minimizes manual checkboxes. Those are the types of engineering investments we're making in manufacturing.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from Sheila Kahyaoglu with Jefferies.

Sheila Kahyaoglu, Analyst (Jefferies)

Maybe just two questions. First, on the backlog. You called out a backlog greater than $4 billion by the end of '26. Can you talk about some of the drivers of this and line of sight to that and how defense plays into it as well, please?

Kyle Clark, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Sure. Real time during this meeting we are getting extreme line of sight. There's a series of documents on my desk right now of deals that are ready to be executed. We are in the fortunate position to make sure the terms of those deals are favorable and aligned with BETA's rollout strategy. This morning our counterparts executed an agreement that takes a good bite out of that backlog goal for this year for aircraft. So we have very good line of sight. When preparing the materials, we had a little less visibility; now it's even better. The commercial operators that are driving this have found applications for the electric aircraft that we believe will have successful entry into service: high cadence, low cost, relatively short range, starting with cargo, medical and logistics. Those are the types of operators we're partnering with.

Herman Cueto, Chief Financial Officer

Sheila, I want to reemphasize Kyle's point. We set a very high bar on what goes into our backlog. We're selective with our customers. We want good launch partners who will come with large orders and deposits. As Kyle said, we were excited to see documents get signed early this morning that will take a big chunk towards that $4 billion backlog, and we'll be announcing that shortly.

Sheila Kahyaoglu, Analyst (Jefferies)

Got it. And then on EBITDA, there's a wide range from negative $305 million to negative $395 million. How do we think about that? What changes post Q1? Is it G&A, R&D? How should we think about the EBITDA range and cadence?

Herman Cueto, Chief Financial Officer

In the first quarter, we're certainly going to be investing more, just like we did in the fourth quarter, where we're buying long lead-time materials. You'll see that continue into Q1, and then it will settle out as we get into the second quarter and the back half of the year. The wide range is because this is a fast-moving business and we don't want to be in a position where we have to slow things down. There are always investments that come up, and we put that wide range in to ensure flexibility to run the business the way we want.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from Andre Madrid with BTIG.

Andre Madrid, Analyst (BTIG)

Can you provide a sense of what the revenue contribution per eIPP bid could be? I mean what could it look like on the charger side or the aircraft side or both? Any color on how material it will be?

Herman Cueto, Chief Financial Officer

Andre, I don't think we're in a position to talk about revenue numbers right now. The OTAs need to be negotiated and we'll get more clarity. But think about potentially three revenue streams: one through charging, a second through training and maintenance, and a third through aircraft monetization — whether the aircraft is rented, leased or ultimately bought. One important point is the operators we partnered with for eIPP are actually our customers in the backlog. So that's an important callout.

Kyle Clark, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

That's a great point. If a customer has a 25- or 50-unit order and we're putting three or five aircraft into their eIPP program, if we get a lease payment over 36 months, that's great. But the real objective here is much more than short-term revenue. Similar to our work with General Dynamics, Textron, GE and Embraer, we're planting seeds that will germinate into much larger orders in the future. We'll make good revenue on this, and on a per-unit basis the propulsion systems we've been selling are very profitable per unit. But we're doing it because it grows into something much bigger. Getting these aircraft out in the world has more to operating than just the aircraft: service, training, maintenance, continuous high-cadence operations and the trust we must build that electric aircraft achieve the economic benefits we outlined. Yes, the revenue is real, but it's not the exclusive focus.

Andre Madrid, Analyst (BTIG)

Got it. That's really helpful. On the backlog: my understanding is that the build you're targeting for '26 is mainly focused on aircraft. Can you talk about what growth you have earmarked for merchant supplier work and what that backlog could grow to by the end of the year?

Kyle Clark, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Your read of how we define the backlog is correct. We are reporting the KPI on aircraft backlog. That's the prime mover of the business, and we expect that to grow with high certainty now to $4 billion and beyond. On merchant supply itself, one of the positive outcomes is that we developed prototypes, delivered them to a customer, and that resulted in a large order. That order includes propulsion systems and the engineering assets and artifacts to support those programs, which grows the merchant supply backlog. Some of the work is confidential, so we can't discuss details. From a revenue perspective, each of the phases is about 10x bigger than the prior phase, and we're not a job shop. We're taking work because it steps up in that order. Our revenue doubled year-over-year, and that's how we're thinking about merchant supply: planting seeds now and delivering small quantities so customers can select us for subsequent phases on the merits of technology, reliability and BETA's ability to deliver.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from Andres Sheppard with Cantor Fitzgerald.

Andres Sheppard-Slinger, Analyst (Cantor Fitzgerald)

Congratulations on all the achievements last year and so far this year. Coming back to eIPP: how do you see the program unfolding once participants are announced? Do you expect all projects to start at the same time, or staggered? Do you expect multiple OEMs participating in each project simultaneously?

Kyle Clark, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Great question. It's important to define the difference between a demonstration and an operation. We focused on operations. We did not want to go with one aircraft across many states; we wanted to provide multiple aircraft to a state so they can get into high-cadence operations every day in all weather. That doesn't happen on day one. To answer directly: not all OEMs will go at the same time. BETA has had more real-world flying experience with customers than any other company in this industry. I signed an attestation to the Department of Transportation that within 90 days of negotiation of OTA contracts we could be in service. That is because of the maturity of the aircraft, our charging network and the fact that we're starting with cargo and medical first and then moving to passenger. We're engaged with customers that have safe and reliable operations. The states select the aircraft and we start with Part 91, do route validation, then move to Part 135. If all goes well, we will start revenue-producing applications for cargo, medical and logistics, then move to VTOL and passenger. BETA is different because of the real-world opportunities we've unlocked internationally and domestically, and we intend to continue doing that.

Andres Sheppard-Slinger, Analyst (Cantor Fitzgerald)

That's super helpful. One for Herman: can you give a sense of cash use for this year, given you're ramping production and targeting 4.5 per month by year-end? I realize you provided a CapEx target. How should we think about overall cash use?

Herman Cueto, Chief Financial Officer

With the guidance provided, excluding eIPP, the cash use will be about $500 million. If you look at about $200 million for CapEx at the midpoint and take the EBITDA range at the midpoint of $350 million, we'll have some interest income that offsets some of that. When you put those pieces together, you get to about $500 million before any eIPP investment.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from Chris Pierce with Needham.

Christopher Pierce, Analyst (Needham)

If I look at the deck and the VTOL certification slide, I want to get a sense of what that should look like over this year. I know you touched on it in the remarks. Should we expect movement on the CTOL side this year, and that in turn allows the VTOL side to move faster when it begins to move? Is that the right way to think about it?

Kyle Clark, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Yes, conceptually that's right. If we track the progress of the propulsion system independently, the propulsion bars will move quicker because we built conforming hardware that has gone into credit testing. We've done that across a large number of units in the motor. Just this morning, the team reported that we've completed the durability test with over 1,300 flight cycles for credit in multiple environments. That is captured in the H500A engine certification test bars. The CTOL and VTOL bars are separated to give transparency on what's required for each certification program. The deltas between programs are relatively small: about 15% of requirements planning and a larger delta on implementation when we move from CTOL to VTOL. You should expect to see movement on the A250 certification program this year. We have done substantial vertical flying and experimentation. We believe we're the first company to get delegation for our lift props with a DER, and we've gotten additional delegations across the CX300. I think we achieved around 80 delegations in the last month. These are important and result in measured progress. So expect movement on all fronts, representing the deltas required between propulsion, airplane and aircraft.

Christopher Pierce, Analyst (Needham)

Okay. Perfect. Did I hear correctly that on eIPP you might fly both CTOL and VTOL aircraft? I thought it would mostly be CTOL, but is there a possibility for VTOL flying in this program this year?

Kyle Clark, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Every one of the applications we put in have both CTOL and VTOL aircraft. I apologize if I focused on CTOL because that's what we're launching first. We will directly go into VTOL thereafter. Our business model is designed so customers get exposure to training, charging and managing batteries and flying with a fly-by-wire system that is universal across our aircraft and then step into VTOL. Our training team has developed the full VTOL training curriculum with five modules: the first three modules are the CTOL aircraft, covering systems and fly-by-wire, and then two additional modules for VTOL variants. That gives customers a straightforward pathway. Charging and maintenance are largely the same, so yes, we will be flying eVTOL aircraft should we be selected for the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program.

Kristen Costello, Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs

To put a finer point on that, there are huge advantages with this program, especially for the VTOL market. It's advantageous for our customers to do the things Kyle mentioned — pulling in training timelines and getting operations ahead of full type certification — to get these into service earlier. It has tremendous benefits to us, to the customers and the industry as a whole.

Operator, Operator

Thank you for your questions. I will now turn the call over to Kyle Clark for closing remarks.

Kyle Clark, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. Thank you, everybody. I appreciate you sticking around on this call. In closing, what is awesome to us here at BETA is that the pieces are falling into place. Our strategy of a stepwise approach into the market is being respected and mirrored with ATC modernization efforts, the Department of Transportation and the FAA. We have strong leadership there stepping up and giving us a platform and a canvas to deploy advanced air mobility. We believe we've positioned ourselves to win on the eIPP. Our manufacturing is in place. Our training is there. Our service and support are ready to go, and we have a track record of safe and reliable flight operations. All of that positions us for certification and early deployment. We are focused on getting through the H500A certification. It's not without challenges, but we are driving through those challenges daily. The seeds we planted over the last several years with customers are maturing now, and second- and third-phase programs are in our line of sight. We're excited about executing on them, seeing revenue grow, seeing our products mature and getting through certification. I'm energized and I appreciate all of you for your questions and critique — I think you'll come to the same realization as time goes by.

Operator, Operator

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending.