Heart Aerospace announces Director of Government & Industry Affairs
Swedish electric airplane maker Heart Aerospace is pleased to announce Simon McNamara as its Director of Government and Industry Affairs.
With more than 25 years of experience in aviation public affairs, much of it focused around the regional airline sector, Simon brings considerable advocacy expertise to Heart. For the past five years Simon has been leading advocacy efforts in the UK and Ireland for the International Air Transport Association (IATA) with much of the work focused on sustainability issues.
“I’m very pleased to welcome Simon to the team. Decarbonizing air travel requires a collective effort, and his experience will strengthen our interactions with governments, regulatory authorities and industry bodies necessary to achieve this goal,” said Anders Forslund, co-founder and CEO of Heart
Before his role at IATA, Simon was Director of Communications at the UK regional airline Flybe and prior to that, he spent 19 years in EU affairs culminating in a term as Director General of the European Regions Airline Association. Simon also spent time early in his career with IFALPA, the global pilot association, focused on ICAO matters.
“I am incredibly excited to be joining the team at Heart Aerospace who are pioneers in their field. With the industry’s future growth dependent on its ability to decarbonize, battery electric aircraft will play a key role in the regional sector, and I can’t wait to help drive that change by showing governments and policy makers globally what the potential is for this innovative aircraft energy source,” said Simon McNamara.
Simon has a degree in Aeronautical Engineering (1994) from City University, London and an MSc from Cranfield University (1995).
About Heart Aerospace
At Heart Aerospace we work at the cutting edge of technology while contributing towards a sustainable future. Heart’s mission is to create the world’s greenest, most affordable, and most accessible form of transport. This mission is grounded in the outlook that electric air travel will become the new normal for regional flights and can be transformational in addressing the industry’s key sustainability challenges.
At Heart Aerospace we are developing the ES-30, a regional electric airplane with a standard seating capacity of 30 passengers driven by electric motors with battery derived energy. The ES-30 will have a fully electric zero emissions range of 200 kilometers, an extended range of 400 kilometers with 30 passengers and flexibility to fly up to 800 kilometers with 25 passengers, all including typical airline reserves.
Heart Aerospace has a total of 250 firm orders for the ES-30, with options and purchase rights for an additional 120 airplanes. The company also has letters of intent for a further 91 airplanes.
Our investors include Air Canada, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, EQT Ventures, European Investment Council, Lower Carbon Capital, Mesa Air Group Inc, Saab and United Airlines Ventures. Our main offices are in Gothenburg, Sweden. www.heartaerospace.com
