Electric passenger carrier for Finnair

Finnair is also entering the competition for the introduction of electric passenger carriers, and the company has signed a letter of intent to buy zero-emission aircraft. If everything goes according to plan and an actual contract is signed, the first copies can be taken over this decade. There seems to be a consensus among almost all airlines and start-up aircraft manufacturers working for cleaner aviation that, due to technical limitations, electric propulsion may first make its way between smaller passenger carriers.

One of the competitors in the category is Heart Aerospace, which now has a serious partner: Finnair has signed a letter of intent to buy twenty ES-19 electric aircraft that are still on the design table, according to Flightglobal. The developers unveiled the aircraft designed to carry 19 passengers in 2019, and they hope to have the first copies on the market by 2026.

Finnair envisages using the 400-kilometer aircraft on short, mainly domestic routes. Operation will only be completely “green” if the batteries of a four-engine aircraft are charged with electricity produced from renewable sources, but in Finland this is not an impossible idea, as about a third of the energy is already produced this way. In addition, the Scandinavian countries and airlines are working to take the lead in making aviation more environmentally friendly, as part of a joint program to reduce transfers and encourage point-to-point operations to serve intra-regional and domestic travel needs.

In addition to BRA (Braathens) and SAS Scandinavian, Wideroe is also involved in this program, the latter also having previously expressed interest in buying the Heart Aerospace ES-19, but recently joined another similar project alongside Rolls-Royce and Tecnam. The three companies, like Heart, have set 2026 as the target date for launch.