INVESTMENT SPOTLIGHT: AMPAIRE

Ampaire – Working to Decarbonize Aviation

In Q1 2026, 4S Bay invested in Ampaire.  The company offers a practical and scalable pathway to decarbonizing aviation, one of the most difficult sectors to transition, while aligning sustainability with clear economic incentives for customers. The company has demonstrated strong early validation through flight operations and has built a network of partnerships across airlines, government agencies such as NASA, and manufacturing collaborators.

Photo provided by Ampaire

Ampaire is a Long Beach, California–based aerospace company founded in 2016 and focused on making air travel cleaner and more cost-efficient through electrification. Its core product today is a hybrid-electric propulsion system that retrofits existing aircraft, allowing operators to cut fuel burn by ~50–70% and reduce operating costs by up to ~40% while maintaining existing routes, operations, and infrastructure. This approach delivers immediate economic and environmental benefits, especially for regional aviation, where cost sensitivity is high. Rather than waiting for fully electric aircraft to become viable, Ampaire is pursuing a pragmatic “hybrid-first” strategy that enables near-term adoption while advancing longer-term electrification.

Photo provided by Ampaire

Looking ahead, Ampaire is building a multi-stage product roadmap that expands from retrofit systems into larger regional aircraft and, over time, purpose-built electric planes. This includes scaling its technology to higher-capacity platforms, deepening integration with aircraft manufacturers, and exploring complementary solutions that extend range and operational flexibility. Together, these efforts position the company to move up the value chain, from component provider to a more vertically integrated player, while capturing a growing share of the transition to lower-emission regional aviation.