Norway to make short haul electric flight by 2040

Published on : Friday, January 19, 2018

Norway, the leading nation in producing the renewable energy and electricity, will make all the short haul flights by 2040 with electricity.

The state-owned airline company Avinor operates most of Norway’s civil airports, is aiming to be the “first in the world” to switch to electric air transport.

The announcement confirms reputation of Norway as a leader in electric power.

Last year, Energi Norge said it was possible for Norway to become the first country powered by 100 per cent clean electricity.

Norway is able to influence its abundance of rivers and waterfalls to produce the majority of its electricity using hydropower.

Norway has also been a pioneer in moving away from fossil fuel-powered vehicles, with politicians suggesting all cars in the country could run on green energy by 2025.

By comparison, UK climate advisers have recommended that the Government of Norway should aim to make around 60 per cent of new cars and vans electric by 2030.

In a 2017 report, Avinor announced that in cooperation with the Norwegian Sports Aviation Association and major airlines, it had set up a development project for electric aircraft.

Major companies such as Airbus, Boeing and Siemens believe that the electric planes carrying up to 70 passengers on short-haul flights will be possible within the next decade, and easyJet is collaborating with American start-up Wright Electric to help develop the technology. Avinor intends to reduce the aircraft greenhouse gas emissions in the short term by phasing in bio fuels in the coming years, and then build on these reductions by phasing in electric planes.