Page 48 - World Airnews Magazine January 2021 Edition

NEWS DIGITAL

FIRST AIRLINE FLIGHT TRIALS

FOR A HYBRID-ELECTRIC

AIRCRAFT

department of
transportation
Ampaire, an electric aviation company, has completed a and the Hawaiian Kevin Noertker, CEO
demonstration flight of a hybrid-electric aircraft along an actual Electric Company of Ampaire (photos
courtesy Ampaire)
airline route. to explore
longer-term
The company flew its Electric EEL aircraft on November 22nd last infrastructure
year on a 20-minute flight from Maui’s Kahului airport across the solutions to support a fleet of hybrid-or fully-electric aircraft.
island to Hana and back on a single charge. “The future for regional airlines is electric,” said Stan Little, CEO
Ampaire is now flying the route regularly in a one-month demon- of Southern Airways which operates one of the largest commuter
stration programme with Hawai-based Mokulele Airlines, one of 15 airlines in the US and owns Mokulele Airlines.
airlines to have signed a letter of interest with the company. “We expect to put hybrid - and all-electric designs into service
It is the first use of a hybrid-electric aircraft under the FAA’s as soon as possible, and we know other regionals are watching us
experimental-market survey category, allowing Ampaire to fly with with great interest.”
their crew and essential personnel for crew training and other “We’re excited to partner with Ampaire to pave a path to
exploratory market activity. The flight trials are supported by electric aviation that unlocks more accessibility to rural and
Elemental Excelerator, a global climate-tech accelerator. island communities and increases green jobs while invigorating
“We’re following the successful path of hybrid-electric automo- the aviation industry,” said Danielle J. Harris, director of Mobility
biles in transforming ground transportation by taking that model Innovation at Elemental Excelerator.
to the sky, ” said Ampaire CEO Kevin Noertker. “Building a climate-positive aviation industry is about much more
“By upgrading current aircraft with hybrid-electric propulsion than just a plane. It requires rethinking everything from airport
we can enter the market quickly and take advantage of existing infrastructure to pilot behaviour and that’s what this project is
infrastructure for fixed-wing aviation.” really proving.”
The trials serve two purposes, according to Noertker: demon- “The market for electric aircraft will expand as airlines perceive
strating electric aviation’s potential to reduce harmful emissions that electric aviation is not only environmentally desirable but
and evaluating the robustness of Ampaire technology. economically advantageous,” said Noertker.
“We can take lessons from this series of flights and apply them to “Electricity cost is an order of magnitude less expensive in
subsequent, larger aircraft designs already in the works.” comparison to fuel, which is the largest cost item for airlines.”
The Electric EEL technology demonstrator used in the Mokulele “Ampaire is focused on the regional market where we can
trials is an upgrade of the popular six-seat Cessna 337 twin-engine provide viable range for typical routes,” he said.
piston aircraft. “The average regional airline route in the US is less than 500
The aircraft has a 300-horsepower piston engine in the rear and miles. Upgrading today’s aircraft for electric power is a relatively
a 160 kW-capable electric power unit in front, plus a battery pack low-cost, low-risk path to aircraft certification. Then we expect to
carried in an under-fuselage aero-optimised shell. move on to increasingly efficient and capable clean-sheet designs.”
Due to the contribution of the electric power unit, fuel con- UBS, the Swiss investment bank, forecasts a (US) $178 billion
sumption and CO² emissions are reduced by approximately 40-50 market for hybrid-electric aircraft.
percent. Ampaire flew the largest hybrid-electric aircraft at the time in
For the flight trials, the only change to ground equipment May 2019 and is exploring larger aircraft conversions with support
was the requirement to wire a Mokulele hangar with a 208-volt from NASA and the US Department of Energy’s ARPA-E research
3-phase outlet. Ampaire has been working with the Hawai arm. Q

World Airnews | January Extra 2021
— 1—