Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand has purchased an electric aircraft that will carry out postal deliveries across the country from 2026.
Electric aircraft face several challenges that make their development more complex compared to traditional fossil fuel-powered aircraft, including the comparatively low energy density of batteries, which limits their potential range.
Air New Zealand’s new plane has been built by start-up Beta, which is located in Vermont, US. The aircraft is based on the firm’s ALIA platform, which has been used to develop more traditionally styled electric aircraft, such as the one purchased by Air New Zealand, and eVTOLs, which can take off and land vertically.
The ALIA has flown over 480km in one flight in testing. For Air New Zealand’s initial flights, it is looking at routes of only around 150km in length. Given the shorter length of the flights, it will likely fly the ALIA at a lower altitude of 1500-3000 metres.
The aircraft weighs three tonnes, is just over 12 metres long and will fly at a speed of up to 270km an hour. A full charge of the battery is anticipated to take 40-60 minutes.
Early next year, Air New Zealand plans to announce which two frontrunner airports have been selected to be home to the new route. The airliner has spent the last 18 months evaluating its plans to adopt an electric aircraft and sought and received ideas from 30 organisations.
It will initially operate the aircraft as a cargo-only service in partnership with NZ Post.
“This is a small but important step in a much larger journey for Air New Zealand. There is a lot of work ahead of us, but we are incredibly committed, and this purchase marks a new chapter for the airline,” Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran said.
“Decarbonising aviation isn’t easy, and we have a lot of work to do. We need to accelerate the pace of change in the technology, infrastructure, operations and regulation.”
“While this aircraft will add to – not replace – our existing fleet, it is a catalyst for that change. By flying the ALIA, we hope to advance our knowledge and the transformation needed in the aviation system in Aotearoa for us to fly larger, fleet-replacing, next-generation aircraft from 2030.”
While Air New Zealand currently has an order for just one aircraft, it has options for an additional two and rights for a further 20 if the pilot programme is deemed to be successful.
Beta CEO Kyle Clark said: “Air New Zealand is hyper-focused on bringing technologies to scale as quickly as possible, both to meet its own ambitions to decarbonise and to change the broader aviation landscape.”
Last month, the aviation start-up ZeroAvia secured $116m (£92m) from backers including the UK Infrastructure Bank to help the firm build its first engines and advance its R&D efforts for a hydrogen-powered plane.
