Air Greenland acquires VX4 Air Greenlands from

Greenland would also introduce electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) air taxis, with Air Greenland using Vertical Aerospace VX4 aircraft from leasing company Avolon to operate a shuttle service between the island’s municipalities.

The first European customer of Avolon’s eVTOL programme, Air Greenland, the national airline of Greenland, has agreed to buy or lease Vertical Aerospace’s VX4, but has not yet announced how many. The VX4 is capable of carrying 4 passengers in addition to the pilot, with a range of 185 kilometres (100 nautical miles) on a single charge.

The parties are working in a working group to develop the infrastructure and certification needed to launch electric air taxis in Greenland to replace more polluting modes of transport or slower boat services to areas currently accessible only by water.

Avolon placed an order for 500 eVTOL aircraft last year, 90 percent of which have already found a prospective operator, with Brazilian GOL, JAL and Air Asia among the airlines that have ordered from the fleet.

The eVTOL aircraft are primarily designed to revolutionise urban transport, but recently they have also been explored for use in areas that are difficult to reach by land or only accessible by water. The Norwegian airline Wideroe has ordered the Eve Urban Air Mobility Solutions from Brazilian subsidiary Embraer for this purpose.