Beta Technologies (BETA) 2026年第三季法說會：營收創新高，上調財測指引

重點摘要

• 2026 財年第三季營收創公司歷史新高，達 1,770 萬美元，年增約 98%，並高於 Beta Technologies 預測的 800 萬至 1,200 萬美元財測區間。
• 今年年初至今營收為 4,250 萬美元。管理層將 2026 全年營收財測上調至 5,200 萬至 5,700 萬美元，原先為 4,200 萬至 5,000 萬美元。
• 調整後 EBITDA 為負 9,740 萬美元，優於公司原先預測的負 1.15 億至 1.25 億美元，反映出更高的營收、低於預期的營運費用以及符合條件的飛機零組件資本化。
• Beta 在本季結束時擁有約 13 億美元 的現金與現金等價物。提議的 8.3 億美元 美國進出口銀行 (XM Bank) 融資方案仍處於審查階段，尚未完成簽約。
• 商用飛機積壓訂單金額超過 40 億美元，代表超過 1,000 架飛機 的確認訂單與選擇權訂單，且均有財務承諾背書。零組件業務則另有 10 億美元的積壓訂單。
• Beta 提前完成了五個年終營運目標中的三個：飛行里程超過 25 萬海里；建立 168 個充電站（目標為 150 個）；以及飛機積壓訂單超過 40 億美元。

關鍵財務數據

營收成長受到多項因素推動，包括零組件交付量增加、合作夥伴計畫、電動飛機基礎設施試點計畫 (EIPP) 提早實現的基礎設施營收，以及為使用 Beta 馬達、電池與飛行控制電腦的第三方飛機提供整合與飛行測試支援。

業務與營運表現

Beta 的 ALIA A250 獲得美國聯邦航空管理局 (FAA) 的市場調查授權，管理層稱其為首款獲得此類批准的電動垂直起降 (eVTOL) 飛機。四天後，該飛機在不到 20 分鐘內完成了 34 海里的垂直起降市場調查飛行。

公司已啟動獲批的七個 EIPP 計畫中的六個。第一階段重點在於航線驗證、可衡量的成本節省、機師培訓、安全營運與飛機派遣可靠性。管理層表示，第二階段旨在邁向 FAA 第 135 條款 (Part 135) 認證與創造營收的航班。

Beta 的初始 VTOL 應用預計將從機場到機場的示範轉向涉及器官、組織與血液製品的醫院任務。公司也已開始在醫院安裝充電樁。

零組件業務持續擴展，已有五個飛機計畫採用了 Beta 的電池、飛行控制、馬達與螺旋槳等組合。管理層表示，這些計畫以高毛利率貢獻當前營收，並可能創造長期服務、支援與售後市場營收。第三季毛利率較 2025 財年第三季改善了約 300 個基點。

在製造方面，Beta 在包括飛行控制電腦、電池組、線束與逆變器在內的多個零組件生產線上展示了相當於 每月 4.5 架飛機 的產能。機身生產速率驗證仍在進行中，而符合規格的認證飛機則是當前的首要任務。

在國防領域，Beta 正裝配其第二架混合動力 VTOL 飛機，第三架示範飛機的零組件也正在整合中。管理層預期 MV-250 的產能提升將略早於商用 eVTOL 計畫，最初是透過快速原型開發合約推動。該飛機結合了 Beta 現有的平台、Sikorsky Matrix 自主飛行技術以及 GE Beta 渦輪發電機。

飛行營運也產生了令人鼓舞的電池數據。管理層表示，觀察到的電池衰退幅度低於最初預期，這有可能降低客戶的經常性營運成本。

管理層財務預測

Beta 將 2026 全年營收財測上調至 5,200 萬至 5,700 萬美元，相較於先前區間 4,200 萬至 5,000 萬美元。新區間意味著第四季營收約為 900 萬至 1,400 萬美元。管理層表示對達到區間高點具備可見度，但正式展望是建立在對交付高度有把握的營收上。

全年調整後 EBITDA 財測維持不變，仍為 負 4 億至負 4.45 億美元。資本支出 (CapEx) 財測亦維持不變。

由於 Beta 投資於包括 MV-250 和擴大 EIPP 活動在內的機會，管理層預計 2027 年研發支出將同比增加。正式的 2027 年財務預測和營運關鍵績效指標 (KPI) 預計將隨第四季度業績一同公布。

風險與關注事項

• 營收認列在各季度間可能有所波動，因為 Beta 必須在客戶生產與內部認證及製造優先事項之間取得平衡。
• 額外的 8.3 億美元 美國進出口銀行 (XM Bank) 融資方案正在審查委員會審議中，但尚未完成簽約。
• 認證時程仍具不確定性。執行長 Kyle Clark 表示，他相信 Beta 將成為 VTOL 行業中首家取得認證的公司，但也坦承無法確定該結果。
• 公司目前仍處於虧損狀態，今年年初至今調整後 EBITDA 為 負 3.05 億美元。
• 這筆 10 億美元 的零組件積壓訂單主要集中於單一客戶。
• Beta 尚未達成全公司範圍的 每月 4.5 架飛機 的生產速率目標；計畫到 2027 年初進行額外的機身速率驗證。

分析師問答集錦

認證策略：管理層將其信心歸因於更簡單的飛機架構，避免了齒輪箱、液體冷卻、推力向量及其他複雜系統。CX-300 與 A250 之間通用的馬達、電池、飛行控制、機翼與尾翼，旨在讓單一平台的認證工作能支援另一個平台。

EIPP 商業化：管理層指出充電基礎設施是近期最大的營收機會。佛羅里達州已訂購 34 座充電樁，其他參與州也在準備電動航空基礎設施。隨著營運朝 Part 135 認證推進，飛機租賃、機師培訓與維修維護可能成為額外營收來源。

國防產品差異化：Beta 強調 MV-250 並非全新設計。它採用了公司現有的商用平台，並加入混合動力與自主飛行技術，用於高風險後勤支援及其他軍事任務。這種做法旨在保持製造與供應鏈的通用性。

客戶營運優先事項：EIPP 數據收集以派遣可靠性、飛機可用性、全天候能力、培訓及充電系統可靠性為核心。每架飛機均使用雙向 Starlink 連線，在飛行前、飛行中與飛行後回報系統狀態。

營運經濟效益：管理層表示實機飛行數據顯示電池衰退程度低於最初預期。由於電池衰退是一項顯著的經常性成本，公司認為這能在飛機營運壽命期間改善客戶的經濟效益。

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完整財報電話會議逐字稿

管理層陳述

Operator

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the Beta Technologies Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call.

[Operator Instructions]

I will now hand the call over to Devon Rothman, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Devon Rothman

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for Beta Technologies' Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call.

Joining me today are Kyle Clark, our Founder and Chief Executive Officer, and Herman Cueto, our Chief Financial Officer.

Following their prepared remarks, we will open the call for Q&A, where Kristen Costello, our Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs, will also join us.

Earlier today, we issued a press release announcing our third quarter 2026 financial results as well as an investor presentation, which are both available on the Investor Relations section of our website.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that today's discussion will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of securities laws.

These statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially.

Please refer to our filings with the SEC for a discussion of these risks. We will also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures can be found in our earnings materials.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Kyle.

Kyle Clark

Thanks, Devon, and good morning, everyone. On our last call, we covered the MV-250 debut at Farnborough, EIPP launch with United Therapeutics carrying organs, motor certification policy interpretation issues, and an aircraft backlog approaching the year-end goal of $4 billion.

This morning, we will cover the commercial, military, and certification momentum and financials for this last quarter. Quarter 3 was the strongest revenue quarter in beta history.

We beat the midpoint of our Q3 guidance by more than 50%. We also crossed more than 0.25 million nautical miles of electric flight. We launched service in 6 EIPP sites, including Florida this past week.

Our exceptionally strong partnership and collaboration with GE continues to make us a better company. And in September, we beat delivery promises to Embraer Eve's program.

We also hosted Chairman Jovanovic from XM Bank and continue to advance the $830 million financing package to fund our domestic manufacturing and vertical integration expansion.

More recently, on October 16, we earned the FAA Market Survey Airworthiness Certificate for the ALEA A250 November 250 X-ray tango, marking the first electric eVTOL aircraft in history to receive one.

4 days after receiving this authorization, we flew the first vertical-to-vertical market survey flight. New York to Vermont across Lake Champlain, it was a 34-nautical-mile flight in less than 20 minutes. That's a drive that typically takes 1.5 hours and includes a ferry.

A few years ago, Beta was the very first to fly piloted eVTOL transition flights on full-scale aircraft. We were the first to produce a training-compliant eVTOL and qualify many pilots to fly.

And now we are the first to earn an FAA authorization to give prospective customers the experience of an eVTOL aircraft through vertical takeoff, transition to wing-borne flight, and vertical landing.

Getting here has required years of work. Each step builds on the foundation for the next. Our maniacal focus on simplicity has driven this progress, and it remains central to how we certify, manufacture, and commercialize our aircraft.

As the eVTOL industry advances towards certification and commercialization, FAA authorizations provide concrete and objective measures of progress. This authorization had several prerequisites.

We had to show stable flight in every corner of the flight envelope, covering all flight load cases and speeds. We had to show stability in all wind conditions, both vertical and runway landings, and we had to produce maintenance manuals and implement the maintenance program.

Most importantly, we had to have a stable aircraft configuration across a meaningful number of flight hours. A focus on the customer has led us to a deliberate choice to remove complexity.

No liquids, no gearboxes, no complex software algorithms, no extra blades, no thrust vectoring, no propeller actuators. Simpler systems have fewer failure modes.

Fewer failure modes mean the aircraft is available when the operator needs it, and it is generating revenue. Beta now holds an FAA market survey authorization for both our CTOL and our VTOL aircraft.

Both are built on a simple common platform, sharing the same wing, tail, flight control systems, motors, and batteries. They are manufactured on the same production lines.

That commonality allows progress in each certification program to support the other. Shifting to our defense business. In September, the CX-300 flew at the Miramar Air Show by Invitation.

We were the first electric aircraft to fly at that military air show. The hybrid and autonomous MV-250 was on static display, and our prospective customers really dug into the details of the aircraft.

The response we are hearing from the defense community is direct and consistent. There is an existing capability gap we can fill with longer range, faster speeds, a very small logistics tail, and autonomy, and we can do it at a significantly lower upfront and recurring operational cost.

The MV-250 builds on our commercial A250 platform, sharing its wing, tail, electric motors, flight controls, and other core systems, achieving near-total technical commonality.

By adding the Sikorsky Matrix autonomy and the GE Beta turbo generator for hybrid operation and a fuselage designed for uncrewed military missions, we deliver enhanced military performance without the time and cost of a clean sheet design.

This foundational dual-use architecture allows the MV-250 to immediately inherit the manufacturing economies of scale and existing supply chain and the flight time from our commercial programs.

We have had very strong engagement at all levels of the armed services, and we've seen commercial demand for hybrid and autonomous systems as well.

We are currently assembling our second hybrid VTOL aircraft, with the components for a third demonstration aircraft coming together. We will have more to share soon.

Transitioning over to our EIP projects that went live since our last call. We have now launched 6 of the 7 programs that we were awarded. We brought the aircraft to the customer operations to fly their routes, their schedules, and their conditions.

We showed them what dispatch reliability looks like when there's no fuel system, no hydraulics to troubleshoot, and no oil change. We flew in good weather and in bad weather.

We showed them a very low cost per flight hour. We showed up early, quietly tested the routes, and delivered in every case. With these selections live, cargo moving and medical transport happening, operators are building the institutional knowledge that will turn a pilot program into long-term commercial relationships.

Phase 1 of the EIPP is about 3 things: one, proving mission closure; two, demonstrating measurable cost savings; and three, building a record of safe and reliable operations.

We are generating the data that will inform the policy for this entire category. Our components business continues to grow faster than we forecasted and has its own $1 billion backlog.

We put our motors, batteries, flight control computers, and other systems into other companies' aircraft, potentially creating long-term service and parts relationships.

We are presented with many more opportunities that we take. We run each of these opportunities through a rigorous evaluation to ensure it's aligned with Beta's overall development and commercial strategies.

We have also recently invested in large-format composite manufacturing capabilities. We are building FAA-conforming composite and metallic structures for our flight test aircraft. We have brought precision, traceability, and quality controls together on the factory floor.

We have consistently made the strategic choice to spend capital on vertical integration. It isn't only in composites. It's also in the motors, the batteries, and the flight control computers.

This vertical integration has allowed us to move extremely quickly and keep our bill of materials costs in check. Our loan application with XM Bank for an additional $830 million financing package continues to advance to support our vertical integration and production.

We expect to be the first company in advanced air mobility to reach a maturity level that allows access to this scale of non-dilutive debt capital.

On to KPIs. At the beginning of this year, we set 5 aggressive year-end targets: book $4 billion in aircraft backlog, cross 0.25 million nautical miles of flight, secure 150 charging sites, prove a 4.5 aircraft per month production rate, and achieve advanced certification.

Today, 2 months early, 3 of the 5 are complete. Our commercial aircraft backlog stands at just over $4 billion with over 1,000 aircraft in firm and option orders backed by financial commitments.

Our recent sales focus has been on securing high-quality medical and cargo sales customers to support a successful entry into service. Airline customers continue to struggle with high fuel prices and are watching the EIPP missions closely, specifically for the realized cost savings.

Our sales organization has successfully established a service and support organization, and they've developed a comprehensive forecasting and aircraft data awareness application called Beta Operate. This will be the backbone of the customer support channel into beta in the future.

As of this call, we have crossed 0.25 million nautical miles flown. When we set that target, we thought it was achievable but hard. The all-weather IFR capability, high reliability, and high dispatch rates are the drivers behind us reaching this goal more than 2 months in advance.

The aircraft have been flying in the snow and the sleet here in the Northeast. They've been to New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Hawaii, across the country many times, into Florida humidity, into the desert, into the Arctic and the Nordics, 14 countries in total.

The exposure to a variety of environmental and operating conditions has made our aircraft better. We're at 168 charging sites, ahead of our year-end target of 150. These aren't urban showcased installations.

They are in the communities our EIPP operators serve, hospitals, regional airports, emergency response staging areas. That infrastructure is where the missions are.

In manufacturing, we continue to make meaningful progress towards our target of demonstrating production capacity equivalent to 4.5 aircraft per month.

Our focus at this stage is on establishing and validating the manufacturing capability we will need when we ramp production on certified aircraft rather than staffing for sustained production at this rate today.

We've already demonstrated capacity of 4.5 aircraft per month across several key vertically integrated component lines, including flight control computers, battery packs, wire harnesses, and inverters.

We're now extending that work across our major airframe structures through targeted pulse builds. Our highest manufacturing priority remains in the production of fully conforming flight test aircraft in support of certification, which requires additional FAA oversight, inspection, and part traceability.

We're making deliberate investments in capacity while prioritizing those critical certification builds, with the underlying manufacturing infrastructure targeted to be in place by year-end and additional rate demonstrations continuing into early 2027.

This approach positions us to scale production efficiently as we acutely manage our direct labor and material costs, and it positions us to add direct labor at the right time.

Turning to our H500A certification program. We continue to complete and submit 4-credit testing documents and data to the FAA. Durability and lightning testing are complete.

Software development is substantially complete, with all runs performed on 4-credit tests of the software. We are through the hardest phases of the engine program and carrying what we learned directly into our other programs.

We have aligned with the FAA on how to demonstrate compliance across every test area. Reaching this level of progress put us in the right position to move forward formally with our next engine certification project.

We submitted the H500B amended type certification application earlier last month. Through early engagement with the FAA, we have confirmed conceptual alignment that the B is a derivative product and will be an amended type certificate.

The B will follow the path the A has paid while introducing improvements in cost, performance, weight, and producibility. I want to also provide an update on our CX300 program.

The certification plans we need to start early system testing have all been accepted by the FAA, and testing is underway. We continue to host FAA pilots for the flight familiarization activities that help us move towards type inspection authorization, or TIA.

The aircraft we are building today will have operational use cases well beyond certification tests. In a moment, Herman will walk through the implications of how we account for this, which also reflects the maturity of our programs as we transition towards commercial operations.

On the A250, beyond the market survey certificate, 2 regulatory developments moved in our direction. The noise testing we conducted jointly with Penn State and the FAA came back strong.

The FAA is using that data to find the noise requirements for this aircraft class and inform the rules. And the FAA published its safety continuum policy towards power lift aircraft.

The safety levels it establishes confirm the cross-platform compliance approach we designed into the CX-300 and A250 from the start. The team here at Beta has kept their heads down, focused on the quiet work of certification, production quality, and safety of flight data.

We've earned the respect and trust of the best in aerospace, and our partnerships with GE Aerospace, Embraer Eve, General Dynamics APS, and others are strong and growing.

The current administration has been very supportive of the AAM industry. The leaders in the FAA continue to reduce unnecessary friction while prioritizing simple, reliable, and safe aircraft.

At the start of this year, we told you what we were setting out to do: 0.25 million nautical miles, 150 charging sites, and $4 billion of the backlog. Today, I can say confidently, we did those things with time to spare.

Our focus is being rewarded, and our strategy is working. Herman, over to you.

Herman Cueto

Thank you, Kyle, and good morning, everyone. At the start of this year, we laid out a series of milestones and investments designed to advance certification, demonstrate commercial readiness, and build the manufacturing capabilities that will underpin our long-term unit economics.

The progress Kyle outlined brings that strategy to life. The ALEA A250 becoming the first electric VTOL to hold FAA market survey authorization, 6 EIPP selections now live, continued investment in vertical integration and industrialization enabled by advancing XM Bank financing and surpassing 3 of our 5 year-end KPI targets, backlog, nautical miles and charging sites, all ahead of schedule.

Further, on October 20, we performed the inaugural VTOL market survey flight, Plattsburg to Burlington, 34 nautical miles, 20 minutes.

The cumulative impact of these achievements highlights how we are translating capital into measurable progress, reducing risk across the business and strengthening the foundation for commercial scale.

On October 21, I had the privilege of meeting with senior leadership at the Pentagon to discuss the MB-250, our development progress, our industrialization timeline, and how this aircraft fills a gap in the existing fleet.

The conversations were encouraging, and we expect to have more to say on this program in the coming quarters.

With that backdrop, let me turn to our third quarter financial results. Third quarter revenue was $17.7 million, the highest quarterly revenue in Beta's history and meaningfully above our guidance of $8 million to $12 million.

Revenue grew approximately 98% year-over-year, and we delivered our second consecutive quarter of sequential growth, all organic, with no inorganic revenue from acquisitions.

This performance was driven by an increase in component deliveries, continued progress across partnership programs, infrastructure revenue pulled forward by the EIPP, and integration and flight test support for third-party aircraft using our motors, batteries, and flight control computers.

While the timing of when these activities can be recognized as revenue can vary from quarter to quarter, the underlying relationships and programs are durable.

Year-to-date revenue reached $42.5 million, already exceeding the low end of our full-year guidance range of $42 million to $50 million with a full quarter remaining.

Operating expenses in the quarter were $140.5 million, including R&D expenses of $90.5 million and G&A expenses of $50 million.

Adjusted EBITDA was negative $97.4 million, better than our guidance range of negative $115 million to negative $125 million. Three factors drove the outperformance: higher revenue, operating expenses below our quarterly forecast, and the commencement of capitalization of qualifying aircraft components.

The initial aircraft components will be utilized for internal business operations and certification, with subsequent manufactured units deployed to expand EIPP operations and future campaigns.

This reflects the progress and maturity of the CX300 program. As CX300 production advances, we expect to capitalize qualifying aircraft components on the balance sheet, an important transition as we build towards certified aircraft production and commercial sale.

Year-to-date adjusted EBITDA stands at negative $305 million against the full-year guidance range of negative $400 million to negative $445 million.

We ended the quarter with approximately $1.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents. Since the quarter ended, XM Bank has continued to make progress in closing the incremental $830 million in financing to support our domestic manufacturing expansion.

We've started clearing the bank's review committees. This is long-duration, low-cost, non-dilutive capital that comes directly from the treasury's balance sheet and is pointed at strategic gaps in American manufacturing.

This is capital designed for what we are building, and work is already underway. The continued support by the XM Bank is a validation of our strategy.

The world's largest export credit agency reviewed what we are building in Burlington, Vermont, and is working to put $830 million behind it. We expect to be the first company in advanced air mobility to close a commitment of this scale.

As that financing advances, we believe Beta has the strongest balance sheet in our sector.

Turning now to our outlook for 2026. We are raising our full-year 2026 revenue guidance. We now expect revenue to be in a range of $52 million to $57 million.

Our full-year adjusted EBITDA and CapEx guidance remains unchanged. We look forward to providing 2027 guidance on our fourth quarter call in the new year.

With that, let me turn it back to the operator to open the call for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

Your first question is from the line of Anthony Valentini with Barclays.

分析師問答

Anthony Valentini

I'm curious if, given the announcements in the quarter and the progress that you've made on some of the key steps here in certification, if you guys feel like you're the furthest along in getting your VTOL certified relative to competitors in the industry?

Kyle Clark

Anthony, Kyle here. It's an interesting question; we're the furthest along. And I do firmly believe we will be the first to certify in the VTOL industry. And it's not necessarily because we're the furthest along; it's because we have less total to do.

We've made a bunch of choices to not have to certify obscure new and novel technologies like what they call simplified vehicle operations, which is a convoluted algorithm on flight controllers laid over the fundamental first-principle physics flight control system, thrust vectoring, liquid cooling, all the gearboxes, all the things that go into certification that have to be extremely reliable, well tested, and then produce statistically relevant data for certification.

And taking those off the airplane gives us just a clearer path to certification. So, just adjusting your question from further along, people are working hard across the industry.

I think some of the choices we made a long time ago have given us a clear path to certification. And with the recent publication of the safety continuum for powered lift, it gives us this kind of step-wise approach that mirrors our entry into service strategy.

Anthony Valentini

Maybe on the defense side, it seems like there's a great opportunity here for the VTOL industry to maybe like pull forward some revenue given that the Defense Department is looking for autonomous and attritable systems.

But it also seems like there are a lot of different offerings from different companies between Android and Archer. I think Boeing and even Lockheed had their own products.

Can you guys maybe just provide a little bit of detail of like where you think that you're differentiated from a product standpoint? And then are you guys going after contested logistics or missionized programs?

And are there programs of record that we should be expecting to come out? Maybe just like some high-level explanation on what you guys are seeing there to the extent that you're able to talk about it.

Kyle Clark

Yes. Thanks for that question. I think the very first entry point is extremely important. Beta didn't elect to do a clean-sheet aircraft.

We took an aircraft that we already had, and we're adding hybridization and autonomy. So it's the same wing, tail, flight controls, batteries, all the same structure. It's a nice transition. That's what's enabled us to build multiple examples of this aircraft very, very quickly.

And recall, we're already getting paid by DevCom within the Army to do hybridization and autonomy, the 2 gaps between our existing product and what they're asking.

The second part of your question about contested logistics. Contested logistics is definitely the prime target. But this is a multi-mission aircraft. We've been evaluating SAR-launched effects, some type of CASEVAC. There's a lot of good momentum.

As Herman said in his remarks, he spent time down in the Pentagon. I certainly have been talking through the capability gap of the military.

And then we've just been demonstrating out with -- we were out on the Russian border in Aurora 2026 with the U.S. Army doing a ton of demonstrations alongside Black Hawks, evaluating the cost of moving material. It's a great fit.

That was, by the way, with the CTOL electric aircraft for the sake of clarity. It was a great fit for our aircraft. And then just looking forward, I think it's really important to note that all this design commonality then gets recaptured again when we talk about manufacturing synergies and commonality down the road.

So yes, we're aware there are a lot of people out there offering Tesla Logistics VTOL aircraft. We chose to take a very simple and pragmatic approach to it. And I do believe that whether you're a UPS or a health care provider like United Therapeutics or the U.S. military, you want the same thing.

You want a simple, reliable, high dispatch rate aircraft that has high survivability, that is low cost to operate. That does not demand an entirely new aircraft design.

You pick up stuff, you move it to a new place, you put it down. There are minor mission changes that demand autonomy and hybridization, but it's largely the same aircraft. So that's our strategy.

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Sheila Kahyaoglu with Jefferies.

Unknown Analyst

This is Kira on for Sheila. Great to see the progress on the EIPP with the FAA this quarter. With that, you mentioned generating the data that will inform the policy for the entire category.

What have you learned about the beta aircraft in these early EIPP operations? And what are the key data metrics you're focused on?

Kyle Clark

Yes. Thanks, Sheila. Key data metrics: dispatch reliability, availability of the aircraft. And then, of course, like the nuances of that.

As I mentioned in my remarks, we've developed a pretty sophisticated program called Data Operate that extracts the data from the self-aware aircraft and evaluates the health of every system within the aircraft before, after, and actually during every flight.

Every aircraft is actually outfitted with a Starlink bidirectional downlink that allows that aircraft to report its status at all times. The amount of data that we're getting is actually awesome. That's like on the technological side.

On the operational side, I mean, I'll give you an example. We went down to North Carolina. EIPP day was low overcast clouds, mostly IFR. It was VFR in the vicinity of the airport.

I was able to fly with the Governor and the Head of the Department of Transportation in North Carolina, really reminding us that an all-weather capability of the aircraft was critical if we're going to propose this aircraft as a cargo medical logistics aircraft.

I mean, I don't know this, but I would go as far as to speculate that there's no way that UPS would ever fly VFR-only aircraft. So flying all-weather has been a big kind of operational thing.

And then, of course, as we've cycled our customer pilots through our training system, we've continuously improved and refined the training system. I'd say those are the 3 biggest things.

There are some nuanced ones around insurance, financing, and engagement with the customer, all the edge elements of supporting a successful launch into the market on the airplane.

And lastly, I'd say we've designed a charge system that has 8 modules in it, 8x redundancy. We knew that chargers on the ground couldn't fail for airplanes because you can't go to the next McDonald down the street. You got to charge, and you got to fly.

And so our charge system reliability has been another important learning point, which has also been very, very successful for us. And I think we made the right design choices early to add reliability to that.

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Andrew Sheppard with Cantor Fitzgerald.

Andres Sheppard-Slinger

Congratulations on the quarter. And congrats on the market survey, certainly a big differentiator there.

Kyle, I guess I wanted to come back to the EIPP. Now that we have the market survey for the eVTOL, wondering if you can maybe update us on how you plan to use both now the CTOL and the eVTOL for the different EIPP projects?

And for the VTOL specifically, what kind of applications are you targeting?

Kyle Clark

Thanks for the question. The team here has architected an EIPP proposal that has a stepwise approach to service. It starts with the CTOL and then moves into the TOL in phases.

The first VTOL missions -- and by the way, we inserted autonomy in there as well. So we have autonomous all-electric CTOL flights between the CTOL and the TOL EIPP.

The first demos will be airport to airport, of course. And then the likely next one will be to hospitals. This is part of United Therapeutics early philosophy on the eVTOL aircraft that they sponsored the development of.

Out of respect to them, because we think it's a great entry market, that's really where we're going to start VTOL flights. And I guess we didn't put this in our remarks. As part of that charging network, we put our first chargers into hospitals recently as well.

So that was a big milestone for the company, positioning ourselves to answer the call with EIPP flights moving organs, tissues, and blood products.

Andres Sheppard-Slinger

And maybe just as a quick follow-up, I wanted to come back to the defense side.

So on the MV-250, can you maybe remind us again how we should think about those initial deliveries? What kind of opportunities specifically are you looking at? And what kind of ramp-up should we expect for the MV-250, maybe ahead of the eVTOL?

Kyle Clark

Yes. I think you're accurate in saying that the ramp-up of the MV-250 will be slightly ahead of the eVTOL.

The Department of Defense has been very, very clear about this capability gap, and a lot of momentum has been generated recently. We are past the individual system test. As I said, we've been paid by DevCom to develop and show them hybridization and autonomy.

There's been a lot of flying on our electric aircraft. We put those different pieces together on our CTOL aircraft, and now we're putting them together on MV-250.

This particular product will land in a rapid prototyping contract that will get deployed out into the world, and we'll do the same thing we've done on the CTOL this year on the MV-250 in the coming months and years.

And it's all built, as you know, on this partnership with GE around the turbogenerator, providing this extended range, extended speed, and higher payload of the aircraft, which puts it kind of out of the league of existing resources the Army specifically has.

Operator

Your next question is from the line of John Godin with Citigroup.

Unknown Analyst

This is Max on for John. You referenced the demonstration goals in Phase 1 of the EIPP program earlier, including improving mission closure, demonstrating cost savings, and building a record of safe operations.

Can you speak a bit about some of the next phases in this program and what you hope to demonstrate in each of these programs that you have been awarded?

Curious about what this looks like over the medium term?

Kyle Clark

Yes. So these first operations are done under Part 91 with very close collaboration between the customers engaged, the states, the FAA, the firm transportation, of course, Beta.

Phase 2 of the operations, and if you have a follow-up on the details of it, I'll hand it off to Kristen here, but Phase 2 of the operations really leans into 135 operations and 4 revenue-generating flights. Naturally, doing 10, 20, 30, 50 flights under Part 91 is no problem.

We wouldn't leave an asset there just to fly without some type of long-term customer benefit and revenue from it. So the next step will be revenue-generating flights under 135.

Kristen Costello

Yes. And John, I think, to Kyle's point, what we did in Phase 1 with the route validation, the pilot training, carrying the representative payloads in the areas, and really demonstrating the full capability of the aircraft.

Now stepping into Phase 2, we're working with the FAA and the operators as these questions are being answered for us in real time. We're getting the pathways for those operational approvals, working with the FAA and the DOT, who have been rigorously working towards this for us.

And those answers are still in the works, but we're anticipating having that pathway in the coming weeks.

Unknown Analyst

And then switching gears a bit. You mentioned the components business having a $1 billion backlog itself and driving a bunch of the revenue beat this quarter.

I recall last quarter, we spoke about this opportunity driving attractive margins across your value chain. I was just curious if you could provide an update there and discuss how this business is progressing in terms of volume and margins?

And any further insight you guys can provide there would be helpful.

Kyle Clark

Yes. It's interesting. If I think back about 5 years, we had listened closely to this group of analysts, frankly, about how the components business was something that we should pursue for a number of reasons, including the margins associated with components in this space.

We have since obviously leaned in and have partners like GE and the Embraer program, General Dynamics, a bunch of other programs. There are actually 5 aircraft programs using our batteries, flight controls, motors, props, some combination thereof out there right now.

And the revenue numbers are obviously important. And it was great for Herman and his team to post a significant beat, but the makeup of those revenue numbers is significantly more important.

There are seeds that we've planted. And as everybody knows, getting a motor or a battery or flight controller embedded into an aircraft that ultimately is type designed or type certified, excuse me, is sticky.

It's like extremely sticky, and that's how we select the programs that we're engaged in. And not only does it contribute meaningfully to our revenue right now, but it also contributes at a high margin, and it gives us a path towards future revenue.

That $1 billion is largely made up by one customer, and that's a seed that we planted when we gave them our first set of pusher and lifter motors. And I think it will return in their initial kind of production and then, of course, in the service support and aftermarket.

Herman Cueto

Max, maybe I could just add a little bit of context as well. So stepping back, when you look at Beta, Beta has multiple ways to win, whether it's through components, charging, or partnership programs. And I think you saw it this quarter.

When you look at the product revenue and the service revenue, we have product revenue growing 78%. A lot of that is enabled by charge, for example.

Service revenue grew 108%, and all of that is enabled by partnership programs. And keep in mind, these partnership programs are a lot of times about taking beta's technology and integrating it into their systems. And as Kyle described, it just makes it very, very sticky.

And to your question on margins, the margin acceleration that we saw, if you were to look at Q3 '25 versus Q3 '26, we saw about 300 basis points of gross margin acceleration.

So volume through the shop floor, things like that, all starting to stack up as we move towards industrialization.

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Kristine Liwag with Morgan Stanley.

Kristine Liwag

Congrats again on the FAA survey approval for the VTOL. So Kyle, earlier, you mentioned that you now expect to be the first eVTOL to be certified with the FAA.

I think this is the most definitive, most confident statement you've had regarding timing. And so I was wondering what you learned in the past few months, and maybe for the survey period, that gives you the confidence that you would be the first, especially as you were previously focused on the fixed-wing before and the C-TOL.

It sounds like there's a change here in your view on certification.

Kyle Clark

Well, Kristine, if I told you we weren't the first, it would be a little bit ironic, considering we've made the decisions we've made because we truly do believe in it.

And the reason I have confidence is I observe the quiet work that happens every day here at Beta by the people that are focused on certification, industrialization, our quality systems, and the other things that aren't as flashy.

Those people and those teams are extremely dedicated to doing it right because there's a saying in aviation: there's always time to do it right because there's rarely time to do it again.

That's the track we're taking across decisions on the engineering, the implementation and production, the conforming article builds. So I don't see what's going on at the other folks in this industry.

I'm sure there are a lot of really hard-working people, but we do see the high-level strategic choices that are made. I think that we have established and continue to establish a differentiation.

As I said in the prepared remarks, it often is lost on people that everything that we did on the propeller to get that certified, everything we did on the motor to get that to the state that's in near certification on the CTOL, all leads into a VTOL that largely contains systems that have already been approved by the FAA for VTOL or CTOL aircraft and then roll into the VTOL.

So it's part of our strategy. I believe it's working. I can't obviously say with any type of certainty, but I was asked my opinion on it, and I'm going to give you an honest answer.

Kristine Liwag

Now regarding the revenue outlook, you raised that for the full year, but that seems to be reflected mostly in the stronger 3Q.

Were there any one-time items? Or will you quantify some sort of pull-forward? And could you see similar acceleration in your 4Q results that you saw in 3Q?

Herman Cueto

Kristine, it's Herman. That's a great question. As you know, revenue exceeded the high end of guidance by more than 50%. And as we always do, our Q4 outlook reflects revenue that we have really high confidence in delivering.

Keep in mind, as Beta evolves, our shop floor right now goes through a lot of balancing. So there is work that we do for customers. There's work that we do for our own certification production priorities.

So that mix between the 2 things can impact quarterly revenue timing. We do have line of sight to be on the higher end of the range, but we wanted to give you the $52 million to $57 million. It implies somewhere between $9 million and $14 million in the quarter.

But if you step back and you look at it, on a full-year basis, at the midpoint of the current guide, we're growing more than 50%, and we feel that's a better way to look at it.

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Chris Pierce with Needham.

Christopher Pierce

Following up on Andre's question. I guess I'd just love to hear what you're hearing from customers as you've done these demonstrations for them?

What should our expectation be for what's next, not just autonomous and VTOL, but what should we see on the customer side? Would it be like deposit-back orders? Would it be just in the order book?

Like what should our expectation be based on enthusiasm from customers as you fly for them?

Kyle Clark

Yes. I mean, I'll just give you a fun, visceral answer. Flying a fly-by-wire aircraft with a really stable configuration.

When I fly with the chief pilots or our team flies with their teams, the feedback is exceptional. I mean, the visibility, the modern avionics, it's a safe airplane. It's got all the technologies that prevent the mistakes that have put people in danger in the past. So that's like number one.

The data-rich aircraft, as I talked about before, I won't retrace those steps, but that's a huge benefit to customers. Awareness is the ability for them to make good decisions.

The cost is a big one. But to answer your question more acutely on what we expect out of the market survey ticket and the VTOL, it's a third-party validation that this aircraft has a stable configuration, and that's important to our customers.

And part of getting a market survey is also having maintenance manuals and a maintenance process. And those are the types of questions you get from the more sophisticated customers.

They're asking, lastly, how much does the aircraft cost? They asked how much it costs to operate. Why? What are the things I have to do: frequency, downtime, dispatch rate.

And then, like the tenth question down the list, is how much does it cost? So being able to answer those questions, not just with a speculative forecast, but with real data has been really, really helpful.

And we've accumulated enough hours and miles to really bring that out. The other thing that has surprised me personally is that we've seen some really neat customers step up, customers that are doing things that you didn't even really know were a big market.

I mean, we were flying radioisotopes, for example, car parts to factories that didn't want to be down. It's very expensive to have a car line down. These cargo and logistics things, we talk about them abstractly, but buried within that, our economy moves on the things that get to the factories to build the stuff.

And we want to be a part of that. And it's a huge and growing market that we think that is the right entry point. So learning about those obscure applications has been --, and I can't talk about it yet, but we saw the press release soon.

One of the orders that tipped us over the $4 billion backlog balance was from a company moving one of these obscure cargo elements.

Christopher Pierce

Then just one for Herman. I know that if we kind of roll back maybe 6 months ago, you had guided us towards 2Q R&D and where things landed now that we've seen things step down in 3Q.

But as we think about Phase 2 or additional phases of the EIPP, I know you're not guiding '27, but should we think about there being a step-up in R&D in '27 as well as we think about all the flying you guys are doing and the more flying that you're going to do now that VTOL is ready to get out there?

Herman Cueto

Yes. You said it perfectly. We're not going to guide 2027 right now. But what I would say, Chris, is there have been so many opportunities that have presented themselves this year.

When you look at the work we're doing on the NV250, we talked about pulling in that investment this year. EIPP has been wildly successful, and it's unlocking a big revenue opportunity with things like charge.

So I would expect that on the R&D side, you will see a step-up year-over-year. And maybe it's with EIPP, but there are other exciting investments that we want to put dollars behind. And we'll talk more about that in the new year when we guide 2027.

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Noah Poponak with Goldman Sachs.

Tomas Russo

This is Tomas on for Noah Poponak. I wanted to ask about the large passenger aircraft. How are you thinking about allocating capacity between that program and wheel?

And given the higher battery content for the airframe, what's the right framework we should think about for size and how much this program expands the total aftermarket opportunity?

Kyle Clark

Yes. I think, along the themes that I mentioned before, for the large passenger aircraft, as I mentioned in the S-1, it is built from the same common technology and manufacturing capability that we have developed for these aircraft.

It is a consideration. I'll give you an example: in the flight control computers, for a cargo and logistics aircraft, you could reduce the design assurance level of the flight computers.

We elected to make flight computers that were fit for the application in a Part 29 or Part 25 aircraft. And that allows us to reuse that technology.

Same with the composites: the allowables associated with composites, the design guides, the drawing standards, all the things that we do behind the scenes to give ourselves a safe and reliable aircraft at a smaller scale, we can turn the knob just slightly and make that technology immediately applicable to the large aircraft.

We have a relatively small team; we call it an advanced systems team. We set that team up in groups of 6 to 12 people, and they have been working quite hard on the development and setting the table for all of our future programs, including a larger passenger aircraft that I had mentioned in the past.

And the results are extremely promising. I think it's important to note that, when you think about the improvement of a vehicle, like a Tesla automobile, for example, people think that the range improved because the batteries got better.

Just under half of the range improvement came from the batteries. The rest came from lightweighting structure, aerodynamics, propulsive efficiency, and gear train efficiency.

These are things that we work just as hard at as the adoption of new energy storage technologies. So we're seeing longer and longer ranges of the aircraft.

As you know, we've flown our CTOL aircraft 336 nautical miles. We intend to invest in that. And it's a strategy that's looking at the longer form. So it's rooted in knowing what we're going to do in the future and setting the table now to enable us to do that efficiently.

Tomas Russo

And I want to quickly ask: with the uptick in flight operations this quarter, is there any color you can provide on how the operating economics for EA are tracking toward your initial expectations?

Kyle Clark

Yes. I'll tell you, probably this is the first time I've said this publicly, we now have enough data on the batteries to show that the degradation is less than we forecasted. That means a more economical operation.

We have aircraft that are getting into enough cycles that they're past their half-life of what we anticipated in batteries. We have a measurable difference in the degradation of the batteries.

That's really good for us and for the customers to lower the cost of operation because when you really dissect the recurring cost of operation, the battery degradation is a big part of that.

And the lower that cost can be on a per-flight basis, the more often our customers will fly and therefore, the more profitable the aircraft will be for them.

Focusing on the customer has been a philosophy here from day 1. And frankly, we've done millions of cycles on individual cells, modules, and packs in our laboratories, but you have to go fly it to prove it.

The temperature, the environment, the cooling, the cadence, the actual exercise of the batteries that causes that irreversible degradation, which we call what we measure in terms of capacity, is really only realized with a ton of hours of flying.

So it's been, frankly, quite positive. And I think that's the first time we've actually disclosed what the results are showing us. Thanks for the question. I appreciate it.

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Andre Madrid with U.S. Bancorp BTIG.

Unknown Analyst

You got Ned Morgan on for Andre. Herman, you alluded to it a moment ago, but as EIPP operations expand, how should we think about the monetization opportunity?

I recognize a lot of the value is operational learning and accelerating adoption, but could it ultimately also be a meaningful source of revenue?

Herman Cueto

Yes, I think so. When we move from Part 91 to 135, I think that creates an opportunity to do different things with the aircraft, whether that's renting it or leasing it. I think that opportunity will present itself.

But the real opportunity that we're seeing, and we're seeing it today, is the states that are participating in the EIPP leaning forward with charging. As we had spoken about in the past, we received an order from Florida for 34 chargers that we've been manufacturing and deploying.

We're seeing other states in the EIPP start to do different things with charge as well to put the infrastructure in place today for electric aviation. I think that's where you're going to see the big revenue drivers.

And then, of course, there's going to be pilot training. There will be maintenance-type things, but the large driver will be charging.

Unknown Analyst

And then a follow-up. As we look into '27, for your 5 main KPIs, are you able to provide any preliminary thoughts on what you expect to how you're set them that?

Kyle Clark

Yes. No, we're not going to provide guidance on our KPIs for next year. We do have internal goals that are closely tracked within the team and the Board, and we'll disclose our next year's guidance, including KPIs, on our fourth-quarter earnings call.

But look, the reality is we'll keep accelerating, and that's the baseline.

Operator

I will now turn the call over to Kyle Clark for closing remarks.

Kyle Clark

Awesome. Thank you, everybody. I just really appreciate people sticking around and getting through this call.

The results this quarter, in my estimation, are just a product of the team here and their commitment and focus by those 1,500 people who, as I said before, are dedicated to the quiet work. I think that they're focused on the right thing and the fundamentals, first-principles physics and improving the way that we fly.

I think this company as a whole is on sound strategic footing and unquestionably a solid technological foundation. And what's really gratifying this quarter, and I've got to tell you, I just feel really good about the energy and the momentum here is that those things are being validated.

They weren't validated on day 1, but they're validated years after those decisions are made, and that work has been done. And I feel like we're on just really solid footing to take the next steps into finishing this year strong and continuing this momentum into next year.

So thank you, everybody, for believing in this team, and we'll continue to keep our heads down and deliver for you.

Operator

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.