Aircraft Startup Odys Aviation Relocates Office to Long Beach

Space Beach’s newest resident is focused on making regional travel more efficient and sustainable.
Written by Ashley Bowden
April 14, 2022Updated: April 19, 2022
dorris
James Dorris, CEO and co-founder of Odys Aviation. | Photo: Odys Aviation

The sky is by no means the limit when it comes to what modern technology can do, a concept some companies take more literally than others. Rethinking the way people travel by air, Odys Aviation is developing an aircraft meant to make trips across regions seamless. In doing so, it’s traveling to a new region itself with a new office location in Long Beach.

Appropriately nicknamed “Space Beach,” Long Beach is home to a heap of local aerospace innovators. Odys will be joining the ranks of autonomous rocket developer Relativity Space, aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing and satellite launch service Virgin Orbit. The company will be the first startup in the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) market to establish a presence at Space Beach.

“The Long Beach move is really about being in a location where there’s a lot of phenomenal talent that has great backgrounds in mechanical and electrical and big hardware development systems,” James Dorris, Odys’ co-founder and CEO, told Built In.

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Odys specializes in VTOL technology. Its goal is to shorten longer travel times by flying from helipad to helipad. Not only will its aircraft leave the ground in an innovative way, but it will also leave behind much less of an environmental impact. Odys is building out hybrid electric solutions geared toward reducing the typically large carbon footprint associated with air travel. 

Dorris and his co-founder Axel Radermacher both come from backgrounds in electrifying transportation, particularly in the automotive space. Their dedication to sustainability efforts remains a core motivating force behind their current work with Odys, Dorris said. 

Odys focuses on incorporating electrification into its aircraft, an initiative that is largely in tune with the progress of modern tech. The turbine technology that is traditionally used to generate propulsion in aircraft doesn’t scale proportionally, according to Dorris. Energy storage like batteries are a much more cost effective option.

plane
Photo: Odys

“People have been working on VTOL aircraft for many decades, but frankly, there’s an enormous amount of effort going into the space now again, driven because travel is becoming a bigger deal,” Dorris said. “CO2 and aviation is becoming a much bigger deal, and we have to change some of the dynamics to make this travel experience a heck of a lot better.”

The company raised a $12.4 million round of seed funding back in September devoted to building a one-seater aircraft with a 22-foot wingspan that’s set to have its first flight this fall. The company is laying the groundwork for a prototype design, and most of its funding will fuel the vehicle’s development, engineering, supplies and testing. Odys expects its aircraft to enter service in 2027.

Its new 15,000-square-foot location at the Long Beach Airport will grant Odys the space it needs to accomplish these goals. The location will support the advanced testing of its VTOL technology as well as the construction and assembly of its first human-scale demonstrators. These prototypes will be tested and flown at an off-site test location outside of Long Beach.

Within the year, the company plans to grow its team to 30 people. The new facility has room for 70, and the company hopes to double this personnel capacity, according to Dorris. The company is currently hiring with roles listed on its site for engineering, product, marketing and people ops.

Jobs at Odys Aviation

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