How AIR generating revenue while most eVTOL competitors produced zero sales | Rani Plaut

Summary

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BUILDERS with Rani Plaut: How AIR Is Generating Revenue in the eVTOL Market

Podcast: BUILDERS
Host: Front Lines Media (Brett, Interviewer)
Guest: Rani Plaut, CEO & Co-Founder of AIR
Release Date: April 21, 2026
Episode Focus: How AIR is succeeding with real revenue and adoption in the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) sector, while most competitors generate hype but no sales.

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Episode Overview

This episode of BUILDERS dives into AIR’s approach to bringing electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) technology to market, focusing on tangible product delivery and actual revenue generation in a field notorious for grand promises and minimal customer sales. CEO and co-founder Rani Plaut shares inside lessons on tackling hard problems, keeping innovation focused, forming effective market feedback loops, and AIR’s bold B2C-first strategy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tackling Hard Problems & Personal Ambition

• Background in Hard Tech: Rani Plaut explains his previous experience inventing electromagnetic pulse devices, underscoring a consistent drive for taking on unusually difficult engineering challenges.
  • Quote [01:16]:

    "My previous company was harder... we were pulsing hundreds of thousands or millions of amps in milliseconds—so AIR is easier. But I like things that are tangible. I like hard problems. And the satisfaction is bigger when the challenge is bigger."

2. The State of Electric Aviation & Market Barriers

• Sector Status: Propulsion for electric aviation is now possible, but broad adoption is slowed by battery limitations, skill requirements, noise, infrastructure, and especially certification complexity.
• Targeting Mass Market: Plaut argues that eVTOL’s promise lies in democratizing aviation—making flight accessible like cars, rather than remaining an elite pursuit.
  • Quote [02:02]:

    "Why electric aviation at all?...Challenges that stop aviation from becoming mass market: skill sets, noise and infrastructure friction, price and complexity."

• AIR’s Approach: AIR differs by reducing aircraft complexity, enabling easier certification and targeting personal (B2C) aviation. They straddle the space between risky hobbyist ‘manned drones’ and high-cost, complex commercial offers.

3. Lessons in Bringing Tech to Market

• Focus and Feedback: Rani emphasizes that founders’ personal convictions are less important than constant, real market feedback and focusing innovation. Over-innovating across too many subsystems is a recipe for failure.
  • Quote [04:44]:

    "What I think doesn't matter... It's very important to have a feedback loop which is as short as possible with the market."

  • Quote [05:13]:

    "If you innovate also on the motors, battery, new materials, the chances for success drop exponentially. Choose your innovation and listen to the market."

4. Product Development Path: Unmanned First, Then Personal

• Iterative Testing with Safety: AIR started with remotely operated “manned versions,” mirroring drone development to reduce human risk and iterate quickly based on actual customer interest—including from defense, logistics, and government sectors.
  • Quote [06:25]:

    "With VTOL, it's like a drone. You can crawl, walk, then run—something you can't do in traditional aviation. First flights are unmanned, so it's easier and safer to iterate."

• Platform Commonality: The manned and unmanned versions share 85–90% of components, streamlining manufacturing and supporting parallel use cases.

5. B2C vs B2B/Government Sales Strategy

• B2C-Centric Model: AIR is primarily a direct-to-consumer (OEM) company, focusing its value add on individual buyers while leveraging “primes” (existing large contractors) for B2B and B2G sales.
  • Quote [08:10]:

    "AER is a B2C company...We cooperate and sell to primes in the B2B and B2G sector...We are concentrating on the B2C."

• Scaling via Partnerships: For institutional clients (e.g., defense, logistics), AIR partners with primes who already have customer relationships.

6. Real Revenue: Orders and Deliveries

• AIR’s Sales Milestones:

  • Order book: 25 aircraft (as of recording)
  • 3 delivered, 3 more for Q1 2026, at least 3 per subsequent quarter
  • $35+ million in total backlog
  • Achieved revenues each year since 2023; 2026 expected to be first “double digit” revenue year
  • Quote [09:10]:

    "Total order book of 25 aircraft...Three delivered...Total backlog over $35 million. Revenues in 23, 24, 25; 26 will be double-digit revenues."

• Unique in the Field: Most eVTOL competitors, even high-profile ones, have zero customer sales.

  • Quote [09:46]:

    "If you don't have sales, something is wrong...6, 7 years into development, you should have some serious relationships—AKA money flowing in."

7. A ‘Reality-First’ Marketing Ethos

• AIR avoids PR stunts, focusing on authentically demonstrating—and filming—real flight transitions and facility progress only after they're achieved.
  • Quote [10:52]:

    "Having good product and filming it. That's the core. When we show a video, we show transition from vertical to cruise. If you look at other companies, they don't."

• Selective Announcements: AIR publicizes only substantial milestones, not speculative partnerships or early agreements.
  • Quote [11:37]:

    "We take pictures when we move in, not when we sign the lease agreement a year beforehand. If you want to put something out there, you have to actually do it."

8. Scaling & Production Outlook

• AIR leverages automotive supply chain techniques; their product is designed with automotive manufacturing best practices, streamlining future scale-up.
  • Top challenge: Ramping from low to higher volumes while stabilizing output and integrating semi-automation.
  • Quote [12:13]:

    "AEHR is designed around automotive technologies...Ramping up production and involving some semi-automated systems is a big hurdle...The most important part is stabilizing production."

9. Vision for the Future

• Plaut’s 5- to 10-year forecast: He imagines 20,000–30,000 eVTOL units sold per year, with AIR aiming for a “double digit” market share (ideally 30% but likely less).
• Primary Users: Foresees the biggest use case as private users (leisure, commute, professional), with defense/logistics outpacing commercial passenger craft in annual sales.
• Urban Integration: Envisions eVTOLs “on the outskirts of urban areas,” not city centers.
  • Quote [13:16]:

    "When everything unfolds...20,000 to 30,000 units sold per year...Largest number to private users...a lot of those things in the air, not in urban areas, but on the outskirts."

  • Quote [13:58]:

    "The dream of a 'Fifth Element' city is five to six decades out—if at all. There are statistics and dangerous aspects to manage."

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Innovation Focus:

  "If you innovate also on the motors and propulsion system and the battery, and also some, I don't know, new materials, the chances for success drop exponentially."
  (Rani Plaut, [05:13])

• On B2C-First Model:

  "We are the first company to be certified because we are not complex."
  (Rani Plaut, [03:53])

• On Market Readiness:

  "If you don't have sales, something is wrong. Six, seven years into development, you should be having some serious relationship—aka money—flowing in the right direction."
  (Rani Plaut, [09:46])

• On Marketing with Substance:

  "We try to do real physical things and document them...you have to do something, and then it makes you do it. It's a very good system."
  (Rani Plaut, [11:37])

• On Future Vision vs. Hype:

  "The dream of having something that looks like the Fifth Element is five to six decades into the future, if at all. There are some dangerous aspects that need to be taken care of."
  (Rani Plaut, [13:58])

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Timeline & Timestamps for Key Topics

• Ambition for Hard Problems – [01:04]
• Electric Aviation: State of the Market – [02:02]
• Product Innovation & Feedback Loops – [04:44], [05:13]
• Development Path: Unmanned & Personal Aircraft – [06:25]
• Sales Approach: B2C, B2B, B2G – [08:10]
• AIR’s Revenue & Sales Performance – [09:10]
• Competitor Analysis: Revenue Reality Check – [09:46]
• Marketing Philosophy ("Filming Reality") – [10:52], [11:37]
• Production Scale Challenges – [12:13]
• 3–10 Year Vision for eVTOL Market – [13:16], [13:58]

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For More Info

• AIR's website: airev.aero (“Cool website” launching soon!)

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This episode delivers actionable insights not only on how to build credibility and win early customers in deep tech, but also provides a rare look at a company focused on substance and scalability in a field defined by vaporware and speculation.

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Transcript

[Ronnie Plout]

Other companies in the market have been a little bit creating some events instead of revenues.

[Podcast Host (Frontlines IO Announcer)]

Welcome back to another episode of Builders. As always, this show is brought to you by Frontlines IO, Silicon Valley's leading B2B podcast production studio. If you're bringing technology to market and want to learn from your peers, we have a library of more than 1200 interviews with Venture backed founders and marketers. Where they talk, all things go to market. Of course, if you want to launch your own podcast, we offer podcasts as a service to more than 80 tech startups. Idea there is very simple. You show up and host and we do everything else. Now with all that said, let's jump in today's episode.

[Brett (Interviewer)]

Today our guest is Ronnie Plout, CEO and co founder of AHHR. Ronnie, welcome to the show.

[Ronnie Plout]

Hi Brett, happy to be here.

[Brett (Interviewer)]

Yeah, looking forward to this conversation. So let's go ahead and jump right in. You must like hard problems. When I imagine technology that's hard to build, this has to be pretty high up there. So talk to us about where that ambition came from to go out and build hard.

[Ronnie Plout]

So first of all, my previous company was harder. My previous company was we were pulsing electromagnetic pulse. You remember from the Ocean's Eleven movie, the guy that flips off Las Vegas.

[Brett (Interviewer)]

Yeah.

[Ronnie Plout]

So this is a true device and I invented it, not the one in the movie, but there is one that you don't have green liquid in it. So this was harder. We were pulsing hundreds of thousands or millions of amps in milliseconds, so air is easier. But I have been, I mean, my friends are joking about doing things that are way harder than normal entrepreneurs. Frankly, I don't know. I mean, I like things that are tangible. I like hard problems. And I think the satisfaction is bigger when the challenge is bigger. So I think this is where it's coming from.

[Brett (Interviewer)]

I think all of our audience, you know, they're following the space. They know the big companies in the US that have, you know, raised a bunch of money. They've gone public. Maybe for right now, if you could set the table, like, how would you describe the state of the market today?

[Ronnie Plout]

Well, first of all, I think before that you should ask why electric aviation at all? Because the energy is limited and the performance are limited and it's a new type of aircraft. And certification is always a hurdle. So why the heck do it? Electric aviation has a promise and we think that it challenges the most important questions of why isn't aviation a mass market? I mean, people are going, you know, abroad on airliners, but if you compare the number of aircraft sold to the number of cars sold, it's close to 100 million cars versus very, very few thousands per year in aviation. And we think that the challenges that stops aviation from becoming mass market. First of all, the skill sets required. You need to be a very high skilled person to operate the device. Noise and infrastructure, which are both friction with the general population, are our problem. And price, price and complexity. So at air, we think that if you have the right product, meaning it's easy to operate, you have envelope protection, it's quiet and vertical, and it's priced rightly, correctly, we think that the market can start propelling forward, let's say. So the membrane from niche high complexity to mass market can be penetrated. So the situation in the market is, I think it's good, but it's not great. So propulsion in electric aviation has become available. It's not widely available, but it is available. So motors have become good enough and easy enough to operate. The motor controller is the same in terms of battery. Still we have a problem, but I think it's not a big problem because there are some use cases for short range. Certification is still a hurdle and we broke the paradigm because we went after personal aviation. And complexity is still very high in most companies. Our situation is very different. In most companies you either have a manned drone, which is a hobby type, very dangerous device, goes under Part 103 of the FAA. But the vast majority of the market is going to the high complexity, high cost and high price. Therefore it needs to be commercial. So I think there is a very big promise. We're climbing the hump, so to speak, because everybody's doing, most of the people are doing either very low complexity, non certifiable or very high complexity, high price. But there is an opportunity. We are the first company to be certified because we are not complex. And I think more people will follow very shortly.

[Brett (Interviewer)]

What have you learned so far about bringing technology like this to market?

[Ronnie Plout]

If I had to summarize, what I've learned is that I have learned that what I think doesn't matter. So it's very important to focus on what you innovate in. And it's very important to have a feedback loop which is as short as possible with the market. Because when you tell a story, the world listens but also reacts. And in some cases the reaction is like this. Now if you're smart enough, you don't have to pivot once the world says no. But you have to think. And I think this is the most important Part, I mean, we have been following the money and the money. When I say money, this is not a proof of concept payment. It means a purchase order for a first unit and then further purchase orders for more units of something we can deliver and we are trying to have, for example, in innovation, the aircraft itself is innovation. If you innovate also on the motors and propulsion system and the battery, and also some, I don't know, new materials, and, you know, the chances for success is dropping exponentially. So you have to choose your innovation and listen to the market. This is my two takeaways.

[Podcast Host (Frontlines IO Announcer)]

This show is brought to you by

[Brett (Interviewer)]

Frontlines Media podcast production studio that helps B2B founders launch, manage and grow their own podcast. Now, if you're a founder, you may be thinking, I don't have time to host a podcast. I've got a company to build. Well, that's exactly what we built our service to do. You show up and host, and we handle literally everything else. To set up a call to discuss launching your own podcast, visit Frontlines I.O. podcast. Now back to today's episode and talk to us about the decision to do unmanned first and then going personal. Is that a common path at all or is that a novel approach that you've decided to pursue?

[Ronnie Plout]

Well, first of all, it goes back to electric. When you have electric vertical takeoff and landing, it's very different from common aviation. In common regular aviation development, your first takeoff is major. Major. This is the paramount event. And there is a divider until the first takeoff and after the first takeoff. So when you develop an Airbus A380, I mean, there's one takeoff and there should be one landing, and otherwise it's a colossal disaster. When you have a vertical takeoff and landing, it's like a drone. So you can crawl, then walk, then run, which is something you cannot do in aviation. Now, the big thing about this is that you can do it remotely and then you're unmanned. So the first aircraft we took off with was a manned version, which was operated remotely because it's easier for us. For me as a CEO, it's easier to take a decision because then even if you crash, you don't kill somebody. Now, our decision came from the feedback loop. People have come to us, and the US Air Force came to us, and the Israeli Ministry of Defense came to us, and some civilian cargo companies came to us from Asia and from Europe and they said, hey, we want to. I mean, if it flies, can we buy it? And again, once the customer pays in a big way and something that has a Tail, so to speak. It's an easy decision. Our platform, the man platform and the unmanned platform are one. They're the same. They have I would say between 85 to 90% commonality. So clocking hours and selling the unmanned supports also demand version.

[Brett (Interviewer)]

What about the path of B2B or I guess I would say, you know, selling to governments and selling to defense versus you know, going direct to consumer. How do you think this business is going to play out?

[Ronnie Plout]

So aehr is a B2C company. So we are an OEM in the B2C world. And the platform is being used for B2B and B2G use cases where we don't have added value in the front line. So we are cooperating and selling to primes in the B2B sector and the B2G sector normally primes that already have some relationship with the end customers. So if you sell into DHL, FedEx, UPS, a small company from Israel, I mean we're going to start producing soon in the US and we have a US subsidiary. But selling to large companies such as those customers and the DoD requires a legacy which we don't have. So we are using primes for the B2B B2G where the platform is the same and we are concentrating on the B2C.

[Brett (Interviewer)]

You had shared some numbers in the pre interview about the number of orders. I'm not sure how much of that was public, so I'll let you take the way here. What does that look like? You just at a high level right now.

[Ronnie Plout]

So we have a total order book of 25 aircraft out of which three has been delivered. We're delivering three more 1Q26 and we will be delivering at least three every quarter. We have a capacity now of 60 aircraft. The total book log is over $35 million. We have been having revenues in 23, 24, 25, 26 will be the first year we have double digit revenues.

[Brett (Interviewer)]

And if you look at the competitive landscape, are they doing that as well? From what I understand, it's not very common to be driving revenue at this stage. Am I correct in that?

[Ronnie Plout]

In that belief you are. And I think, I mean, I don't like saying it, but I think this is the reality. If you don't have sales, something is wrong. And you know, sometimes people say, well it's good that you don't sell to customers because you can reiterate and improve your product. The answer is no. 6, seven years into development, you should be having some serious relationship AKA money flowing in the right Direction and I think it's a negative indication for the market and I think that we prefer flying to marketing and I think that other companies in the market have been a little bit creating some events instead of revenues.

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[Brett (Interviewer)]

you must be doing something right when it comes to marketing, right? To have orders like that. What does the marketing program look like?

[Ronnie Plout]

Having good product and filming it. That's the core. We are not signing agreements with some small countries to cooperate for future things. Not that it's a bad thing, but if this is the only thing you do, it's bad. So what we are trying to do and we have been very, very aggressive in selecting what we publish. For example, when we show a video, we show transition from vertical to cruise. If you look at other companies, they don't. So we have been generating footage and real events and waiting for customers to come to us. It requires more restraint, which is weird for an Israeli company, but it works.

[Brett (Interviewer)]

Is there any outbound motion then at all or it's really all about just getting this footage and putting it out into the world?

[Ronnie Plout]

It is. I mean we have news. I mean we try to do real physical things and document them. So when we moved to our new facility, we took pictures of it and showed it. We didn't publish the signing of the new facilities agreement 12 months beforehand. Again, you have to be very strict with yourself. I believe that if you do it this way, you want to put something out there, so you have to do something and then it makes you do it. This is not the only reason, but it's a very good system.

[Brett (Interviewer)]

As you think ahead to ramping up production, what's top of mind for you?

[Ronnie Plout]

Well, AEHR is designed around automotive technologies. So from inception. So our structure is done by an automotive grade tier one supplier. We're working with large tier one suppliers but in automotive our quantities are low volume. Now the big thing is ramping up. So ramping up production and involving some semi automated systems is a big hurdle. There is a way, I mean the contingency is making a lot of rework, so letting the automated line run and having some manual attenuation after the production in my automated line. But it's very hard to ramp it up to proper quantities in a fast way. There is a process that needs to be going under the production meaning, and this is the most important part, stabilizing the production.

[Brett (Interviewer)]

When you. And this will be the last question here, let's talk about the big picture vision. So we can go out three years, five years, 10 years. You seem like a guy who has a big vision here. What's the big picture vision? What does this all look like when everything that's in your head unfolds?

[Ronnie Plout]

I think that when everything in my head unfolds, There are some 20 to 25 or 30,000 units sold per year. I would say that we have a good chance of having a double digit portion of in percentage of this market. I hope 30%, but I think it will be probably lower. When I say this market, this is the market of electric vertical takeoff and landing things that are being sold. I think the largest number will be to private users. So something that resembles the car for, for leisure, commute, professional, I mean, what have you. There are some commercial aircraft to be sold, but I think the numbers are considerably lower than expected. And I think that the defense contested logistics sector will be a little bit larger than the commercial will be there. So I think we will be seeing a lot of those things in the air, not in urban areas, but coming to the outskirts of urban areas. And I think that, you know, the dream of having something that looks like the fifth Element is five to six decades into the future, if at all. There are some statistics and some dangerous aspects that needs to be taken care of.

[Brett (Interviewer)]

Amazing. Well, that's. We're going to end things for today. We'd love to have you come back on every couple of months or every year and just give us a quick update on all of the progress that you and the team are making before we wrap. For anyone listening in that wants to follow along with you and Ayr. Where should we send them? Where should they go?

[Ronnie Plout]

So our website is Airev Aero. We have a cool website coming soon and I encourage you to visit it.

[Brett (Interviewer)]

Amazing.

[Podcast Host (Frontlines IO Announcer)]

Thanks so much.

[Brett (Interviewer)]

Really enjoyed the conversation.

[Ronnie Plout]

Thank you very much.

[Brett (Interviewer)]

Well, that's all for today's episode of

[Podcast Host (Frontlines IO Announcer)]

Builders, brought to you by the Frontlines. If you want more amazing content like this, visit Frontlines IO where you'll find the library of more than 1500 interviews with founders, marketers and other GTM leaders where we unpack the tactical lessons from their journey. And of course, as always, if you do want to launch your own podcast,

[Brett (Interviewer)]

we'd love to have a conversation with you.

[Podcast Host (Frontlines IO Announcer)]

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[Brett (Interviewer)]

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