Otto Aviation (Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.) has launched the Phantom 3500 business jet. Touted as “the first true aircraft of the sustainability era,” the aircraft reportedly offers up to 60% lower fuel burn and 90% less emissions when using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) compared to similar-sized jets (such as the Bombardier Challenger 3500 or Embraer Praetor 500 and 600). This is partly due to its design, achieving transonic super-laminar flow with the help of AI-supported aerodynamics and a seamless composite fuselage. Also enabling the aircraft’s sustainability is the Williams International (Pontiac, Mich., U.S.) FJ44-4 QPM engine, which can use 100% SAF and integrates the auxiliary power unit (APU).

The Phantom 3500’s design will further reduce aerodynamic drag and also improve fuselage integrity by eliminating windows. Instead, HD display panels will offer what CEO Paul Touw describes as a “super natural infotainment system” that eliminates glare and augments the view from every seat, including a synthetic environment similar to Google Earth and streaming of movies that “goes way beyond just a window.”

As explained on the Otto Aviation website by Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief of Aviation International News (AIN), the Phantom 3500 airframe is all-composite, and Leonardo (Rome, Italy) will build the fuselage at its facility in Grottaglie, Italy.

The Phantom 3500 will offer seating for nine with a cabin height of 6 feet 5 inches (~2 meters) and is designed to cruise at over 600 miles per hour with a range of up to 3,500 nautical miles at altitudes of 51,000 feet. Operating costs are expected to be half those of other super-midsize jets.

Otto Aviation announced it will build the aircraft at Cecil Airport in Jacksonville, Florida, investing $430 million and relocating its headquarters to the site. Initial flight tests are planned for early 2027, with certification and entry into service expected by 2030.

Development history, laminar flow design

According to Thurber’s article, Otto Aviation has been working on the Phantom 3500 for 3 years, moving forward from its previous development of the Celera 500 aircraft. By January 2025, the company had completed the Phantom 3500’s conceptual design and systems requirement review. It then began announcing suppliers, including Advanced Integration Technology (AIT, Plano, Texas, U.S.) as its tooling and automation partner for production systems. AIT will provide assembly and joining systems, metrology tools and scalable automation cells.

Thurber also reports the Phantom 3500 design is supported by $25 million worth of wind tunnel testing, according to Touw. This includes wing cross-section tests at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California and high-speed tests at the European Transonic Windtunnel (ETW, Cologne, Germany). All of the tests were successful, says Touw, noting the company’s drag predictions and ETW results were within a couple of percent, giving confirmation of the super-laminar flow design.

“Natural laminar flow allows us to make the wing bigger without the consequence of more drag,” Touw notes in Thurber’s article. “Because of that big wing, we can take off and land out of shorter runways than a Challenger 3500 or Praetor 500/600 or Cessna Latitude or Longitude. The aircraft is also lighter… so the airplane’s wing tanks get smaller, the landing gear gets smaller, the engines are smaller, the structure is smaller. So per pound, it’s also less expensive to manufacture.”

According to Touw, the Phantom 3500’s wing is swept 23° and will have leading-edge slots that help to keep almost 90% of the wing in laminar flow. With this reduction in skin friction drag, the wing can then be larger, able to fly higher with lower wing loading compared to most business jets. Otto Aviation has not yet announced who will build the composite wing.

Touw expects to complete the Phantom 3500’s preliminary design review in October 2025 and then begin building the first of four test vehicles required for certification. First flight is currently scheduled for 2027. The single-pilot jet will be certified under FAR Part 23 regulations, anticipated in 2030.

Production facility, RTM versus SQRTM

Currently located at Meacham Field in Fort Worth, Texas, Otto Aviation has announced it will build a factory in Jacksonville, Florida. Thurber reports the company plans to rely on RTM to produce its carbon fiber-reinforced composite airframe, noting that Airbus uses a similar process to manufacture major structural components for the A220.

Actually, the process used to make the A220 wings is resin transfer infusion (RTI) which was first developed at the old Shorts Brothers facility in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Bombardier for its C Series 100-150 seat commercial jetliner. That aircraft is now the Airbus A220, while the Belfast facility was later sold to Spirit AeroSystems (see CW’s plant tour) but is now part of Airbus.

Another important note is that the Otto Aviation website actually specifies SQRTM (same qualified resin transfer molding). As explained in “SQRTM enables net-shape parts” and “... combines prepreg with RTM,” this process uses a prepreg layup instead of a dry fabric preform, with the RTM process injecting the same resin that is used in the prepreg, but in liquid form. It thus avoids the need for qualifying new materials and should help speed certification yet still enable automation and aerospace-grade quality control. Note that RTM has been qualified for a number of flying parts, including the LEAP engine fan blades and fan case and the A320 spoilers, as well as the structural grid for the A350 passenger door and the A350 horizontal tail plane (HTP) leading edge produced by Aernnova ICSA.

Thurber says Touw admits that the tooling needed to manufacture the Phantom 3500 will be expensive. However, he believes eliminating labor involved with metal manufacturing (cutting, drilling and riveting) will be more efficient and that robotic manufacturing will also help to keep costs down.

Redefining aviation

Otto Aviation has raised nearly $200 million for the Phantom 3500 and is about to launch a B Series funding round. Thurber predicts the program could require more than $1 billion to reach certification and production. The company currently employs about 100 people and supports another 200 full-time-equivalent contractors.

As quoted in a June 2025 article by Aerospace Manufacturing and Design, Touw noted at the Paris Air Show that “the Phantom 3500 is the result of relentless innovation and bold thinking. By achieving carbon neutrality 20 years ahead of the 2050 target, we’re not just meeting expectations — Otto is redefining what’s possible in aviation. It’s a transformative step toward a future where cutting-edge technology and sustainability go hand in hand.”