Norway is planning to launch a tender for the first commercial route operated with an electric-powered aircraft in the near future and hopes to launch such a service by 2025, the head of the country's airports' operator told AFP last week.
Avinor, the publicly-owned agency operating most of Norway's airports, is eyeing a short-haul service operated with a 19-seat aircraft as the maiden fully electric passenger operation. Eventually, Norway plans to completely phase-out fossil-powered aircraft on short routes up to 1.5 hours by 2040.
"We think that all flights lasting up to 1.5 hours can be flown by aircraft that are entirely electric," Avinor CEO Dag Falk-Petersen said.
The plan would eventually cover all domestic services, as well as some of the regional flights, particularly to neighbouring Sweden and Denmark. Before reaching its goal of a fully electric short-haul aviation, Avinor is planning to explore hybrid propulsion systems.
Norway is already pioneering electric road transport with nearly 40% of all cars registered in 2017 being powered by such engines, by far the highest share of all the countries.
According to the ch-aviation capacity module, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Norwegian, and Widerøe are currently the main players on the domestic market.
