Air NZ orders electric aircraft
The first electric aircraft ordered by Air New Zealand was never intended to be a commercial money spinner.
But the deal has secured the airline a spot at the front of the queue at Beta Technologies to buy larger aircraft capable of carrying passengers on inter-city flights.
The national carrier’s deal with United States company Beta should see the 3 tonne battery-powered Aliaelectric aircraft flying commercial “demonstrator” flights in New Zealand delivering cargo for New Zealand Post in 2026.
But Air NZ chief safety officer, and 39-year veteran pilot, David Morgan said, “this is not about making money in the short term”.
While there’s a long way to go on sustainable long-haul aviation, Air NZ hopes that within a decade electric planes carrying its mangōpare logo, also known as the koru, will be carrying passengers between cities in New Zealand.
Air NZ stressed the deal with Beta, which would take its fleet to 109 aircraft, was about starting a process for the airline, airports and the Civil Aviation Authority.
However, a key element of the deal is to ensure Air NZ is among the first airlines able to have orders filled when commercially viable passenger aircraft go into production.
Beta chief executive Kyle Clark said production had begun and the aircraft would go through a certification process expected to take about two years. That could allow airlines like Air NZ making test flights as soon as 2028, or 2029, he said.
The deal gives Air NZ the right to buy two more Alias, and 20 further aircraft.
“I will tell you very bluntly. They are at the top of the list,” Clark said.
Air NZ chief executive Greg Foran would
not reveal the price of the aircraft, but said it was “not particularly big”.
“The reason for doing this is to get on the experience curve. It [the price] is not significant. We’re not out there buying an Airbus A321,” Foran said.
Air NZ ultimately wanted to find sustainable replacements for its 50-seater regional Q300 aircraft, and hoped to start replacing them by 2030.
“I’m not suggesting that a five-seater electric plane is a solution to domestic turbo-prop flying in new Zealand by any means, but boy, it gets us on the journey,” Foran said.
He said New Zealand was blessed with a largely sustainable electricity generation sector, and its geography also promised well for the deployment of next generation electric airplanes.
“Over 65% of our regional flying is less than 350 kilometres,” Foran said.
Clark said batteries became commercially viable about three years ago. “That part of the equation allows us to do a fixed number of routes. Call it 100 miles or less.”
But improvements in battery technology were rapid, he said.
“Recently, we’ve exceeded 300-plus nautical miles [about 550km]. We have to take this step by step. Put the infrastructure in place, and it will unblock the next step, which will be larger, longer-range, faster aircraft,” Clark said.
Foran said it had been a long time since the jet age revolutionised air travel.
“Now, we’re in desperate need of another revolution. As the national carrier of our remote South Pacific nation, we’re acutely aware of our reliance on air travel, and our responsibility that we have to decarbonise our operations as quickly as we can,” he said.
“I can tell you, that by no means, is this an easy task.”
Beta was one of four electric airline technology companies Air NZ has been working with, but the first it has committed to buying a an aircraft from.
Technology has a long way to develop before the world sees all-electric long-haul air travel, Foran said.
“They tell me the physics of that are not solvable at this point, and a solution needs to involve sustainable aviation fuel.”
But he would not be surprised to see hybrid aircraft evolving, reducing fossil fuel consumption on long-haul flights.
Air NZ has a sustainable aviation fuel study under way with the Government to look at whether it could be produced commercially in New Zealand from biomass, such as forestry slash.
“It’s a homework question that we have set ourselves,” Foran said.
The airline expected to announce the conclusion that study comes to in the middle of next year. Next year it would also name the airports the Alia would fly to.
Clark said Beta’s strategy had been to build smaller aircraft able to carry six passengers to cross the “viability threshold”.
The Alia could fly about half a far as similarly-sized turbo-prop aircraft, he said.
And battery technology was improving rapidly. Batteries could be swapped out in Beta aircraft, so each year the performance improved.
“In seven years, it doubles it’s performance,” he said.
Clark said it wasn’t the first technology from one of his companies that has been deployed in New Zealand. A previous company he owned made power electronics, some of which were used in the electricity grid.