By 2040, all short-haul flights within Norway and neighbouring countries lasting up to one-and-a-half hours should be operated by electric aircraft, forecasts Norwegian airport operator Avinor. In the transition to all-electric aircraft operations, the country, which aims to be the world’s first to switch to electric air transport, will ramp up use of sustainable aviation fuels and hopes to have a small electric plane with 19 seats operating on a commercial route starting in 2025. Over the past year, a number of electric or hybrid-electric commercial aircraft projects have hit the headlines, the latest an announcement by Airbus, Siemens and Rolls-Royce that they are to collaborate on designing a demonstrator hybrid-electric regional aircraft that is anticipated to fly in 2020.
“Electric aircraft are set to significantly improve the environmental consequences of the aviation industry,” said Avinor CEO Dag Falk-Petersen. “It could also be cheaper to fly as operating costs for several aircraft models will be considerably lowered, which will have an impact on ticket prices.”
This is an extract from an article first published on GreenAir. Read the full article here.
