Air traffic has been growing rapidly again despite its huge carbon footprint. Now several startups are developing electric planes for short-haul routes and want to convert existing aircraft from kerosene to hydrogen.
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00:00Meet Alice, the world's first commercial electric airplane, seen here during its maiden flight in late 2022.
00:09For Florian Kruse, these images mark a milestone in aviation.
00:14Back then, the idea of flying sustainably was often ridiculed.
00:19Two years later, concepts for electric aircraft engines and hydrogen-powered propulsion systems
00:26can be seen everywhere at the Farnborough Air Show, one of the world's most important aviation exhibitions.
00:33But Kruse says this is all not enough to make climate-friendly flying a reality.
00:40We don't need only operators or OEMs that build sustainable aircraft, hydrogen or electric.
00:48We need also the infrastructure on the ground at the airport, and that's a really big challenge, to be honest.
00:55Because if you see electric systems on airport, you are not able to charge an electric height, an electric aircraft,
01:01because there is not enough power.
01:03The entrepreneur from the northern German city of Bremen wants to connect small airports in Scandinavia,
01:10Italy, Germany and other European countries with a sustainable regional airline for business travelers.
01:17In between runways, he wants to build and operate solar parks with up to 50 megawatts of power.
01:24The electricity will be used to charge the batteries of electric planes and to produce green hydrogen on site.
01:31Kruse envisions a completely sustainable cycle.
01:36At the moment, we have five contracts with airports.
01:40We start with Finland, Helsinki East will be one of our first projects with a 50-megawatt park.
01:45That's really huge, to be honest.
01:48Then we have projects in Bulgaria and Romania, between 20 and 50 megawatts.
01:53And the first one, where we have yet the building permission, will be in Germany, in Saxonia.
01:59The airport in Groningen gave Kruse the initial spark.
02:03Some years ago, the operators conducted studies to see if solar panels next to runways were feasible,
02:10examining whether dangerous light reflections could disturb pilots or if there could be issues with wind or fire safety.
02:19Kruse was the first to take an interest in these findings, which led him to plan projects across Europe.
02:27We actually see a lot of interest from other airports in the whole world.
02:34We've been getting visitors from South America, from Sweden, from Germany, from Singapore, everywhere actually,
02:41because it's very unique and it offers a lot of possibilities, opportunities for the future.
02:49Kruse has now ordered 25 Alice electric airplanes from US manufacturer Eviation.
02:56He's currently planning to add 15 British nine-seaters converted from kerosene to hydrogen propulsion.
03:03By the time the aircrafts are delivered in 2027, he hopes that his airport's solar parks will also be up and running.