PARIS — The Israeli start-up Eviation announced at the Paris Air Show that U.S regional airline Cape Air is to buy its electric aircraft.

Eviation is developing a nine-passenger aircraft designed to fly up to 650 miles at around 240 knots (276 miles per hour). A commercial jet would cruise around 500 miles per hour. The electric plane — called Alice with a prototype being unveiled at the show this week — is designed for the sort of distances usually conducted by train.

Cape Air is set to buy a "double-digit" number of the plane which has a list price of around $4 million each. It's expected that any customer would be able to negotiate a smaller figure.

The company's chief executive, Omer Bar-Yohay, told a press conference Tuesday that he expected to receive certification by late 2021, with deliveries predicted for 2022.

"This aircraft is not some future maybe. It is there, ready and waiting," he said.

Bar-Yohay cited the contributions from Honeywell who built the plane's controls as well as Siemens, and magniX who provided the electric motor and related functions.