Norway has completed its first electric aviation test project with Bristow, BETA Technologies, Avinor, and CAA Norway in Stavanger this January, marking the first project to take place in the country’s international test arena, which was established in April 2024.
So far in the project, 126 flights have been conducted with a total distance flown of 8,748 nautical miles using BETA’s ALIA CTOL aircraft, which can seat five passengers and takes around an hour to charge. It was Bristow pilot Jeremy Degagne that landed the aircraft after six months of testing on a cargo route between Stavanger and Bergen, allowing airports, air traffic control (ATC), and regulators the opportunity to gain real-life experience with the electric aircraft.
For ATC in particular, the project was enlightening in demonstrating that the aircraft could be integrated into existing airspace without increasing workload significantly. On the challenges side, the testing phase showed that charging solutions, winter-adapted infrastructure, and fire and rescue services related to batteries are required.
“As the national airport operator, Avinor has a clear responsibility to prepare our infrastructure for the next generation of aviation,” said Karianne Helland Strand, Executive Vice President for Sustainability and Infrastructure, Avinor. “Through this project, we have gained concrete experience that will guide how we develop airports and charging infrastructure and provide operators with a stronger basis for assessing the future commercial viability of routes based on new technologies. We will now build on these lessons in the next phase of our test and development projects.”
“This project demonstrated exactly how electric aviation should be introduced with a planned, safe approach conducted in close partnership with regulators, operators, and airport authorities,” said Simon Newitt, Head of Sales & Support, at BETA Technologies. “Norway’s geography and regional connectivity needs make it uniquely well suited for electric aviation. Over six months of real-world operations, BETA was able to validate aircraft performance, charging infrastructure, procedures, and winter operations in one of the most demanding environments in aviation. The experience gained here directly informs how electric aircraft can be integrated into existing airspace and airport systems and scaled responsibly to enable commercial operations that deliver both lower cost and lower emissions.”
Photo: Bristow
