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“Electric and hybrid flights are a core part of the solution to making short-haul travel more sustainable, and less dependent on imported jet fuel.”
European travellers could take electric flights on some of the continent’s most popular routes by the early 2030s, thanks to rapid advancements in tech.
“Many people still think airplanes running on batteries are a distant dream,” says Carlos López de la Osa, aviation technical manager at the European Federation for Transport & Environment (T&E).
“But electric and hybrid flights are a core part of the solution to making short-haul travel more sustainable, and less dependent on imported jet fuel,” he said.
With gas prices still volatile due to tensions in the Middle East, fuel-free electric flights are an increasingly attractive prospect.
As well as shielding passengers from fossil fuel price shocks, they produce less air and noise pollution, and could connect remote areas often overlooked by major jet-liner operators.
European start-ups are racing to build electric aircraft that could travel distances of up to 500 kilometres.
That would make them capable of serving a quarter of Europe’s flight routes, according to analysis by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) – including some of the continent’s most popular.
Potential routes that fall within the 500km range include London to Dublin, Athens to Santorini, Barcelona to Ibiza, Nice to Corsica, and Rome to Sardinia.
While France has taken aim at short-haul flights by banning routes where a train alternative takes less than 2.5 hours, and Spain has proposed a similar ban, routes like these – serving islands or crossing water – could not realistically be replaced by rail.
Electric aircraft could help cut emissions on journeys like these, where flying is likely to remain one of the only practical options.