This company wants to bring electric flying taxis to the 2034 Olympics. That starts with cargo routes across Utah

In 2034, Salt Lake City will join a short list of cities that have hosted a Winter Olympic Games twice, joining the likes of Turin and Innsbruck. But unlike in any Olympics of the past, skiers and bobsledders may glimpse a surreal sight overhead as they compete—flying air taxis.

Though still nine years away from the Opening Ceremony, aviation company Beta Technologies sees the state of Utah as a proving ground for its electric planes. As competitors focus on major cities like New York and Los Angeles, Beta has inked a deal with Utah to start exploring transportation solutions across the very rural state.

The Beehive State had a confluence of benefits for Beta, including a varied geography, well-distributed airports, expansive land for testing, and a foot already in aviation. “In our space, everybody (municipalities and states) wants to raise their hand,” says Kyle Clark, Beta’s founder and CEO. “But it’s only a few who step up and [allocate] the right money, the right political resources, the right regulatory support, the right businesses.”

If Beta can create a functioning network of electric planes to connect the remotest parts of Utah, initially focusing on cargo and logistics, then it should be able to streamline naturally into carrying passengers for the 2034 Olympics.

Connecting Utah’s remote areas

Utah has created a coalition designed to support companies like Beta comprises the governor’s office, the state Department of Transportation, and public-private aerospace partnership, 47G (named for 1847, the year the first Mormons reached the Salt Lake Valley, and for a number close to the most G-force ever experienced, 46.2). 47G is focused on growing aerospace and defense in the state, industries that already represent 20% of Utah’s economy. The organization helps 200 aerospace-adjacent companies—from startups, to contractors, to Delta Air Lines—to source capital, build infrastructures, and incubate.

Beta was a welcome addition. “We want to move people and packages, and we want Utah to lead out on this space,” says Aaron Starks, 47G’s president and CEO. “We wanted to bring a partner in and not just sell us aircraft, but build the ecosystem with us.” 

One significant hurdle is FAA certifications, which Beta will need to progress. It has three certifications pending: It expects the first, for its pusher motor—the propulsion device that pushes the craft forward—to be completed this year, followed by those for its eCTOL (conventional take-off and landing) and eVTOL (vertical take-off and landing) models.

If they come through, Utah will be an inviting market. Utah was the fastest-growing state by population between 2010 and 2020, and is due to welcome 500,000 new residents by 2033. That’ll increase demand for cargo, medical, and logistics—all of which Beta wants to operate in, having already secured partners that include Amazon, UPS, and United Health Therapeutics.

Utah’s unique geography suits Beta’s goals. Of its 29 counties, only four are not considered rural, and a third of the state is desert. That allows the possibility for aircraft to improve rural routes that are otherwise inefficient to traverse. Clark says the minor roads that connect eastern and western Utah slow down transport, which is precarious when it involves goods like emergency medical supplies. It’s a state actively seeking out faster and cheaper options.

Carbon emissions from vehicles also contribute to poor air quality, as the mountainous topography leads to a phenomenon called inversion, whereby cold air and pollutants, including carbon, get trapped under a layer of warmer air, resulting in thick smog. “As a state, we are very much on board with decreasing the emissions footprint through clean technologies,” Starks says.

Making it happen

The coalition’s first order of business will be developing airport infrastructure to accommodate Beta’s vehicles across Utah, where 94% of the population lives within a 30-minute drive of an airport. They have started identifying five initial existing airports that could serve as bases for both of Beta’s aircraft offerings: eCTOLs and eVTOLs. The latter, which rise upward like helicopters instead of accelerating along a runway and taking off, need slightly different sites known as vertiports—which could easily be added to existing airports.

“Vertiport sounds big and scary,” Clark says, “[but] we’ve built vertiports that are de-iced landing pads with lights on them. These are pretty simple things.”

Beta and the coalition have also begun an assessment of optimal sites for a charging network, with the help of Beta’s algorithm, which it’s used to place 60 of its “charge cubes” across the U.S., mainly concentrated in the Northeast and South. The fast chargers are multi-modal, meaning they can accommodate EV road fleets like trucks and delivery vans.

So, once Beta’s FAA certifications come through, both the planes and networks will be ready to go for their partners. “UPS loves the fact that we’re putting in a bunch of charging network nodes throughout Utah,” Clark says.

For Clark, the ability to validate the entire system holistically within a single state makes Utah a better market entry point than major metropolitan areas, where its competitors, including Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation, have focused on passenger air taxis. Archer has announced Newark-to-Manhattan and O’Hare-to-Chicago routes with United Airlines, which has conditionally approved $1.5 billion of investment; and Joby has partnered with Delta, with up to $200 million.

But cities pose complicated regulatory hurdles from municipalities and communities, Clark says, as well as the need for intricate power and flight infrastructures. And for such a new offering, the size of demand from would-be passengers is yet unknown. “It’s going to happen,” he says. “But you have to ask the question: Is that the right entry point?”

Archer and Joby, both public companies, are reportedly both planning to use the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics as the milestone event for proving out their air taxis. But caution lingers from the Paris Olympics, where grand promises of air taxis by European companies fell flat.

Clark believes the L.A. Games are too soon to do this effectively, and it would merely be “a bit of a stunt” to show the world flying taxis without providing any real use. Conversely, he says the plan in Utah gives them time to rehearse with cargo and logistics for almost a decade, so that by 2034 they can meaningfully taxi Winter Olympics visitors across the skies.

Clark insists he’s unfazed by his competitors, but still slams what he views as their “superficial” strategies. “We are a quiet, private company, and we have been crushing the technology,” he says. “You may not see us out there making fancy videos of the future, because we’re building the real stuff here.”

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