Sidley is representing United Airlines Ventures in its investment in electric aircraft startup Heart Aerospace along with Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Mesa Airlines. Sidley is also representing United Airlines in its conditional agreement to purchase 100 ES-19 passenger aircraft from Heart Aerospace, once the aircraft meet United’s safety, business, and operating requirements.

The ES-19 aircraft is an electric aircraft that has the potential to fly customers up to 250 miles as early as 2026, and, seating 19 passengers, is designed to be larger than any of its all-electric competitors. The ES-19 is also designed to operate with zero operational emissions and on the same types of batteries used in electric cars. United Airlines Ventures is building a portfolio of companies that focus on innovative sustainability concepts and to create the technologies and products necessary to build a carbon-neutral airline and reach United’s net-zero greenhouse gas emissions goals.

The Sidley team included Kevin Lewis (Houston), Bart Biggers (Dallas), Sandi Knox (Palo Alto), Atman Shukla (Houston), Riley Fedechko (Houston), Matt Johnson (Palo Alto), and Matthew A. Thompson (Houston), with additional support from Ted Murphy (Washington, D.C.) and Daniel Ray (Palo Alto).

Additional information is available in the press release.