Strategic agreements to accelerate the adoption of hybrid-electric aviation - Ascendance, Green Aerolease and Leman Aviation

Ascendance signed key agreements with leading players. These partnerships with Green Aerolease, Finistair (W3 Group), and Leman Aviation mark a significant step in building an operational ecosystem around hybridization, serving a more sustainable and field-adapted aviation sector.

Platforms equipped with STERNA hybrid pack to decarbonize aviation

With Green Aerolease and Finistair, Ascendance is launching the development of hybrid-electric demonstrator platforms integrating its patented STERNA Hybrid Pack technology. This MoU covers the exploration of several solutions for aviation’s environmental transition. First, various types of aircraft hybridized with the STERNA Hybrid Pack are under study—a concrete path to decarbonize regional routes while maintaining efficient service to less-connected territories.

In parallel, the partners are considering hybrid-electric drones equipped with STERNA Hybrid Pack, aiming to develop new use cases such as aerial surveillance and cargo transport, including medical supplies. This collaboration structures a dedicated value chain: Green Aerolease as financier for hybrid-electric platforms (drones and aircraft), with Finistair as a suitable operator. Ascendance supplies the hybrid-electric propulsion system.

Charles Cabillic, Founder of Green Aerolease and President of Finistair commented: “As a committed player in aviation decarbonization, we are exploring concrete solutions, closely aligned with the needs of the regions. Regional air transport must decarbonize to meet today’s challenges, and hybridization is an ideal solution to minimize environmental impact while maintaining strong operability. Furthermore, hybridization of drones opens up new opportunities for developing and scaling many use cases.” 

Commercial partnership to Accelerate ATEA’s market launch

Ascendance has reached a decisive milestone in the commercialization of its hybrid-electric VTOL aircraft, ATEA, through a distribution agreement signed with Leman Aviation. 

This partnership covers:

• Commercial representation,

• Training services,

• Maintenance across several key European markets: France, Switzerland, Spain, Monaco, and Northern Italy.

The goal: to structure a distribution network today and initiate concrete commercial discussions.

This distribution agreement is a new step in positioning ATEA in the regional air mobility market, thanks to a partnership with an innovative and recognized player—already a distributor of the most modern aircraft and with deep operational knowledge through its Alpes Hélicoptères operations branch.

To date, Ascendance has recorded 617 letters of intent to purchase its hybrid-electric ATEA aircraft, confirming growing operator interest  in concrete, certifiable decarbonized solutions.

Vincent Pollet, President of Leman Aviation said: “Europe needs high-performance, economically viable air solutions that are sustainable and aligned with the operational constraints of regional air mobility. ATEA is an aircraft that meets the market’s growing demand, enabling us to offer a unique solution to airlines and business aviation. We are proud to contribute to its deployment, commercialization, entry into service, and program success.” 

Ascendance selected by Eenuee for new hybrid developments in Europe

Ascendance has been selected by innovative aeronautics company Eenuee, a French firm behind a regional Blended Wing Body (BWB) aircraft program and a hybrid drone project, to contribute to a development project through the integration of components from its STERNA hybrid-electric propulsion system. At the heart of this collaboration is the integration of technological bricks from Ascendance’s STERNA Hybrid Pack system, designed to deliver performance, energy efficiency, and compatibility with European certification standards.

Ascendance will be involved in two areas:  

• Supporting the development of a hybrid-electric drone demonstrator for both civil and defense applications, and as a precursor for their future 19-seat regional aircraft.  

• Assisting in the design of their full-scale BWB aircraft by integrating hybrid-electric propulsion, enabling a range beyond 500 km—a strategic threshold for continental routes currently inaccessible to full-electric aircraft.

This collaboration confirms the growing role of hybridization in aviation decarbonization and illustrates Ascendance’s ability to support the emergence of a new generation of efficient, certifiable, and sustainable aircraft in Europe.

Toward a European-Scale Hybrid-Electric Ecosystem

With the selection of the STERNA hybrid-electric system, Ascendance confirms its position as a key player in hybridization for aviation and the interest of aircraft manufacturers in its solutions. This partnership also demonstrates the modularity of the STERNA hybrid-electric system and especially its major technological component, the STERNA Hybrid Pack, across all aviation segments, from drones to light aircraft. These early commercial successes confirm Ascendance’s strategic choice of hybrid-electric propulsion and strengthen its path toward concrete industrialization, in service of a decarbonized and operational aviation sector.

Thibault Baldivia, CCO and co-founder of Ascendance stated: “These collaborations embody our vision: to deploy our technologies where they make a real difference, supporting the uses of tomorrow. This is how we will build aviation that is responsible, realistic, and attractive.”