Electra, Bristow Group and Avinor launch second test project for electric aviation in Norway

Bris­tow Group, Elec­tra, Avi­nor and the Nor­we­gian Civ­il Avi­a­tion Author­i­ty have announced the launch of a sec­ond inter­na­tion­al test project for zero- and low-emis­sion avi­a­tion.

The project builds on Norway’s estab­lished inter­na­tion­al test are­na and aims to gen­er­ate oper­a­tional, reg­u­la­to­ry and mar­ket knowl­edge sup­port­ing the intro­duc­tion of elec­tric and hybrid-elec­tric air­craft.

Under the agree­ment, Elec­tra and Bris­tow will con­duct demon­stra­tions involv­ing Elec­tra’s hybrid-elec­tric Ultra Short air­craft. The goal is to exam­ine the pos­si­bil­i­ties of nov­el air­craft oper­a­tions to trans­form region­al mobil­i­ty net­works, unlock­ing capa­bil­i­ties not pos­si­ble with a con­ven­tion­al air­craft or even a heli­copter.

The demon­stra­tion flights will focus on sev­er­al use cas­es, includ­ing inte­gra­tion of ultra-short oper­a­tions at exist­ing short run­ways, the use of nov­el access points like park­ing lots, drone pads or fields to sup­port unserved or under­served com­mu­ni­ties, and the abil­i­ty to feed ser­vices into major hub air­ports with­out adding con­ges­tion.

Test­ing will be car­ried out in phas­es, pro­gress­ing from oper­a­tions at small­er air­ports in North­ern Nor­way, to test­ing from nov­el or adapt­ed access points, and final­ly, to oper­a­tions feed­ing into a major Nor­we­gian avi­a­tion hub. Exact test loca­tions will be defined dur­ing the prepa­ra­tion phase and con­clud­ed with­in approx­i­mate­ly six months, with the aim of com­menc­ing test oper­a­tions mid-2027.

Each demon­stra­tion will pro­vide insight into emis­sions reduc­tions, nov­el oper­a­tional con­cepts, and the scal­a­bil­i­ty of region­al air mobil­i­ty ser­vices. Struc­tured test­ing under Norway’s reg­u­la­to­ry sand­box will also give reg­u­la­tors prac­ti­cal insight into how these oper­a­tions can be eval­u­at­ed and sup­port­ed.

Jon-Ivar Nygård, Nor­we­gian Min­is­ter of Trans­port, said: “This project marks a new step in the fur­ther devel­op­ment of Norway’s inter­na­tion­al test are­na for zero- and low-emis­sion avi­a­tion. The test are­na is an impor­tant instru­ment in prepar­ing avi­a­tion for new tech­nolo­gies. The government’s role is to sup­port this work by pro­vid­ing clear frame­works and long-term pre­dictabil­i­ty.

“In a long and sparse­ly pop­u­lat­ed coun­try like Nor­way, where avi­a­tion is essen­tial for region­al mobil­i­ty and acces­si­bil­i­ty, it is par­tic­u­lar­ly impor­tant to gain knowl­edge about how new solu­tions can be intro­duced in a safe and respon­si­ble man­ner when the tech­nol­o­gy is mature.”

Direc­tor Gen­er­al, Lars Kob­ber­stad, added: “With this tech­no­log­i­cal plat­form, new parts of the reg­u­la­to­ry frame­work will be test­ed and assessed. A key task for CAA Nor­way will be to obtain the nec­es­sary approvals for these tri­als to be con­duct­ed with­in our estab­lished reg­u­la­to­ry sand­box.

“We will be able to fur­ther improve our safe­ty mod­el for man­ag­ing risks in an inno­va­tion set­ting. Fur­ther­more, the project gives us a chance to devel­op our com­pe­tence and con­tribute to a more effi­cient intro­duc­tion of new tech­nolo­gies.”

Build­ing on expe­ri­ence from the first inter­na­tion­al test project, the pro­gramme moves beyond route-spe­cif­ic test­ing to broad­er explo­ration of oper­a­tional, infra­struc­tur­al and reg­u­la­to­ry aspects. In doing so, it strength­ens the test are­na as a plat­form for sys­tem­at­ic learn­ing and rep­re­sents a fur­ther step toward the phased intro­duc­tion of zero- and low-emis­sion avi­a­tion tech­nolo­gies.

In coun­tries like Nor­way, geog­ra­phy can make region­al trav­el time-con­sum­ing and inef­fi­cient. Electra’s break­through design is built to over­come these chal­lenges, cre­at­ing new oppor­tu­ni­ties for sus­tain­able avi­a­tion that con­nect remote com­mu­ni­ties with region­al cen­ters.

Electra’s hybrid-elec­tric air­plane oper­ates from ultra-short access points, the size of a foot­ball pitch/soccer field, and dra­mat­i­cal­ly reduces trav­el times by fly­ing direct­ly across ter­rain and water­ways that make sur­face trans­porta­tion frus­trat­ing and slow.

The con­tract sign­ing was held at Trond­heim Air­port, Værnes, which rep­re­sents one of the envi­ron­ments under con­sid­er­a­tion for future test activ­i­ties.

Diana Siegel, Vice Pres­i­dent of Com­mer­cial Pro­grams at Elec­tra, said: “Electra’s hybrid-elec­tric Ultra Short air­craft opens the door to low­er­ing emis­sions and new con­nec­tiv­i­ty beyond the lim­its of tra­di­tion­al air­craft.

“Real­iz­ing that poten­tial requires the right ecosys­tem. Part­ner­ing with Bris­tow, Avi­nor, and the Nor­we­gian Civ­il Avi­a­tion Author­i­ty brings togeth­er oper­a­tions, infra­struc­ture and reg­u­la­tion to demon­strate nov­el oper­a­tions at both exist­ing air­fields and new access points.”

Build­ing on expe­ri­ence from the first inter­na­tion­al test project, the pro­gramme moves beyond route-spe­cif­ic test­ing to broad­er explo­ration of oper­a­tional, infra­struc­tur­al and reg­u­la­to­ry aspects.

In doing so, it strength­ens the test are­na as a plat­form for sys­tem­at­ic learn­ing and rep­re­sents a fur­ther step toward the phased intro­duc­tion of zero- and low-emis­sion avi­a­tion tech­nolo­gies.

Dave Stepanek, Bris­tow Exec­u­tive Vice Pres­i­dent, Chief Trans­for­ma­tion Offi­cer, said: “With over 75 years of oper­at­ing expe­ri­ence, Bris­tow knows what it takes to turn promis­ing tech­nol­o­gy into prac­ti­cal oper­a­tions,.

“That’s what makes our work with Elec­tra so impor­tant. The aircraft’s ultra-short take­off and land­ing capa­bil­i­ty cre­ates excit­ing pos­si­bil­i­ties, and our role is to help val­i­date how that air­craft can per­form safe­ly and effec­tive­ly in real-world con­di­tions.”

Kar­i­anne Hel­land Strand, EVP Sus­tain­abil­i­ty and Infra­struc­ture at Avi­nor, added: “With this project, we are tak­ing a fur­ther step in prepar­ing avi­a­tion infra­struc­ture for the intro­duc­tion of zero- and low-emis­sion air­craft.

“As the own­er and oper­a­tor of air­ports and air­space infra­struc­ture, Avinor’s role is to facil­i­tate real-world test­ing – both in the air and on the ground –so new air­craft and oper­a­tional con­cepts can be assessed safe­ly and effi­cient­ly.”