More executives depart Hyundai’s air taxi startup Supernal

A wider leadership shake-up at Hyundai’s electric air taxi startup Supernal is underway just a few weeks after it paused work on its vehicle program and its CEO and CTO left, TechCrunch has learned.

Supernal’s chief strategy officer, Jaeyong Song, and chief safety officer, Tracy Lamb, are no longer with the company, the startup confirmed Friday. Lina Yang, the chief of staff to Supernal’s recently departed CEO, Jaiwon Shin, is also out. (Yang had previously served as Supernal’s “Head of Intelligent Systems” until April 2025.)

“As we transition to new leadership, we have taken the opportunity to strategically review our program’s progress and next steps to ensure alignment with our long-term goals,” the startup said in a statement to TechCrunch.

Supernal said owner Hyundai Motor Group “remains strongly committed to its AAM [advanced air mobility] business.”

Song’s departure is particularly notable given that he spent three years serving as the vice president of Hyundai’s AAM group before taking over the chief strategy officer role at Supernal in 2023. (Supernal was spun out of AAM in 2021.) Song has been employed by the larger Hyundai-Kia group since 2014. Lamb, meanwhile, has a long history as a commercial pilot and safety executive in the aerospace industry. Song didn’t immediately responded to a request for comment. Lamb declined to comment.

It’s been a tough year for Supernal. That startup ended 2024 by abruptly winding down its new headquarters in Washington, D.C., as TechCrunch previously reported. While Supernal finally pulled off its first test flight in March, it laid off dozens of employees just a few months later. By early September, the startup began an executive shake-up and paused the air taxi program.

This is happening at a crucial moment for the nascent electric vertical takeoff and landing industry. Some players are securing investment and new partnerships ahead of planned commercial launches (all while the regulatory scheme gets increasingly favorable in the U.S.), while others are going out of business.