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Norway’s first electric aircraft to take off on Monday

The Local Norway
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Norway’s first electric aircraft to take off on Monday
Minister for Transport Ketil Solvik-Olsen will be aboard the electric flight. Photo: Berit Roald / NTB scanpix

Minister for Transport Ketil Solvik-Olsen will be on board as Norway’s first electric aircraft makes its first journey on Monday.

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Avinor, the owner of the aircraft and Norwegian airport operator, wants the Scandinavian country to be a world leader in electric aviation and has set a target for all domestic flights in the country to be electric by 2040, NTB reports.

“Unnecessary flights contribute to damaging the world’s climate through enormous carbon dioxide emissions,” Anja Bakken Riise of Norwegian environmentalist NGO Future in Our Hands told the news agency.

The electric aircraft, an Alpha Electro G2 produced in Slovenia, is scheduled to take off from Oslo Airport on Monday afternoon and will be flown by Avinor CEO Dag Falk-Petersen.

Solvik-Olsen will be the only passenger on board the aircraft, which has a capacity of two people and has a two-hour charging time.

The aim of the flight is not to demonstrate the practical viability of the aircraft, Riise said.

“This aircraft shows it is possible to fly on electricity. The point of the flight is to show it's possible,” she said.

The flight on Monday is therefore an important moment for Norway, said the head of the NGO, which hopes to see favourable government policies for electric aircraft in a similar manner to those relating to electric cars.

“The aviation industry must learn from Norwegian electric car policies. Norway has been a leading country for electric cars because the government has used all its resources. The same thing must apply for electric aircraft,” Riise said.

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