Norway has become a pioneer in the electric transport market as it already has more electric cars than any other country on the planet. That’s a bit ironic in that Norway also happens to be the largest oil and gas producer in western Europe. It also wants to be the first to properly adopt fully electric airplanes, at least for short-haul flights. Norway is aiming to ensure that all short-haul flights in the country are 100 percent fully electric by 2040.
The country’s airport operator has said that all of the country’s short-haul airliners should be completely powered by electricity come 2040. The country wants to be the first in the world to make the switch to electric air transport, said Avinor CEO Dag Falk-Petersen.
Avinor thinks that all flights lasting up to 1.5 hours can be flown by aircraft that are powered only by electricity. Flights of this duration can cover all domestic routes in Norway as well as flights to nearby Scandinavian capitals.
It’s now planning to launch a tender offer in the near future in order to test a commercial route which will be flown with a small electric plane with 19 seats by 2025.
“When we will have reached our goal, air travel will no longer be a problem for the climate, it will be a solution,” Falk-Petersen said.
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