Otto Aerospace Launches Phantom 3500 Aircraft at UP.Summit

With breakthrough laminar-flow aerodynamics and advanced composites, the Phantom 3500 establishes a new category of ultra-efficient, sustainable aircraft

BENTONVILLE, Ark., Sept. 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Otto Aerospace today announced the launch of the Phantom 3500 aircraft at UP.Summit, an annual, invitation-only gathering of the world’s most innovative minds rethinking the future of transportation. With an estimated price of approximately $19.5 million, the Phantom 3500 is slated to take flight in 2027, with FAA Part 25 certification and entry into service targeted for 2030.

At the event, the company unveiled a full-scale mockup of the jet, giving attendees a first look at an aircraft poised to transform the super-midsize jet category by cutting fuel burn by over 60%. The clean-sheet, ultra-efficient jet leverages breakthrough laminar-flow aerodynamics and precision all-carbon-fiber composites to deliver step-change gains in performance, sustainability and operating cost.

“Business jets have long relied on derivative designs built from traditional aluminum structures, aerodynamics, and manufacturing techniques from decades past,” said Paul Touw, CEO of Otto Aerospace. “Freed from legacy systems and guided by a true clean-sheet, ultra-efficient vision for the future, we rethink everything to unlock performance gains once thought impossible.”

When powered by Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), the Phantom 3500 cuts emissions by over 90% while lowering fuel costs by 40%, even after factoring SAF’s premium price. At 590 mph, the aircraft achieves CO2 emissions nearly equal to electric vehicles (EVs) per seat, per mile, traveling at 55 mph. Flying at altitudes where contrails rarely form, it eliminates aviation’s largest source of non-CO2 warming—cloud formation, which accounts for 57% of aviation’s total climate impact. The Phantom 3500 is the first long-range aircraft designed to fulfill aviation’s 2050 net-zero commitment, cutting total global warming impact by 97% while slashing energy costs simultaneously.

The Phantom will also debut the world’s first ultra-wide passenger windows, spanning an unprecedented 72 inches wide, thanks to its proprietary SuperNatural Vision™ (SNV) technology. SNV reveals a glare-free, color-enhanced, panoramic view of the curvature of Earth in stunning clarity from its cruise altitude of 51,000 feet. The windows are lighter, quieter, safer, and more energy efficient, offering a passenger experience unlike anything seen in flight before.

The Phantom 3500 will be built at Otto’s planned 1-million-square-foot campus on 250 acres at Cecil Airport in Jacksonville, Florida, supported by a $515 million incentive package from the State of Florida. Designed as a smart factory, the facility will integrate state-of-the-art robotics, automation, and deterministic assembly to achieve the precision required for laminar flow. Anchored by a full digital twin, IoT-enabled systems, and predictive AI analytics, the site will continuously optimize production while housing Otto’s corporate headquarters, customer service, and training centers. This advanced manufacturing hub fuses Industry 4.0 technologies with next-generation aircraft design, setting a new benchmark for aerospace manufacturing.

Dennis Muilenburg, former chairman and CEO of The Boeing Company and now chairman of Otto Aerospace, stated: “Aviation is entering its most transformative era in over a century, driven by breakthroughs in aerodynamics, material science, advanced manufacturing, AI, and high-performance computing. These technologies will unlock unprecedented gains in efficiency, sustainability, safety, and affordability and shape the industry for the next 50 years. Otto embodies the perfect combination of entrepreneurial vision and engineering excellence to bring these innovations to life, paving the way for their adoption in future regional, medium-haul, and long-range commercial aircraft programs.”

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who also represented Wichita, Kansas—America’s aerospace hub—during his time in Congress, stated: “America lost its way in semiconductor foundries and shipbuilding. We cannot afford to do the same in aerospace. U.S. leadership in aircraft design and manufacturing is vital to American exceptionalism, national security, and our nation’s economic interests.” Pompeo, now a board member of Otto, added: “It’s inspiring to see the bold, maverick spirit that defined America’s earliest days of aviation re-emerge in innovative startups like Otto.”

About Otto Aerospace
Otto Aerospace is an advanced aerospace company committed to transforming private and regional aviation through innovative aircraft design. Guided by former leaders from Boeing, Textron, General Dynamics, Lockheed, and more—together with seasoned entrepreneurs and world-class engineers—Otto unites unmatched industry expertise with powerful development partnerships. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, Otto is developing the Phantom 3500, a new, clean-sheet design aircraft that establishes—and leads—a new category in highly efficient, affordable, and sustainable aviation.

Otto Aviation recently became Otto Aerospace, a name that reflects the company’s growth into a next‑generation aerospace company driven by vision, science, and technology. Our mission remains the same: to unlock the physics of laminar flow to radically reduce the energy required for flight.

This Changes Everything. Learn more at ottoaerospace.com.

About UP.Summit
UP.Summit is an annual, invitation-only gathering of the world’s most innovative minds rethinking the future of transportation. Each year, leading entrepreneurs, investors, corporate executives, defense and government leaders, and researchers convene with a shared goal: to move people and goods cleaner, faster, safer, and at lower cost - on the ground, in the air, on the sea, and in space. Founded in 2017, UP.Summit is jointly organized by UP.Partners, Tom and Steuart Walton, and Ross Perot Jr. Follow @UP.Summit on social media and #UPSummit2025 for the latest updates.

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Otto Aerospace_UPSummit

Otto Aerospace today announced the launch of the Phantom 3500 aircraft at UP.Summit, an annual, invitation-only gathering of the world’s most innovative minds rethinking the future of transportation. At the event, the company unveiled a full-scale mockup of the jet, giving attendees a first look at an aircraft poised to transform the super-midsize jet category by cutting fuel burn by over 60%.

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