Regional airline Sounds Air, which operates flights from Wanaka Airport, says a recent announcement from Heart Aerospace is a huge development milestone in achieving zero emission flights in New Zealand and world-wide.

Heart Aerospace (in Gothenburg, Sweden), a company building a 19-seater electric airplane, has raised $35M from investors. 

As part of the agreement, United Airlines (United States) and Mesa Air Group Inc (a regional airline in the USA) have together placed purchase orders for 200 aircraft, the ES-19, with options for an additional 100 airplanes.

In October 2020 Sounds Air signed a letter of intent with Heart Aerospace to purchase electric airplanes and said they were running simulations to see how the electric airplanes would work in New Zealand.

“The Sounds Air team is thrilled that we are at that point where we have confirmed our orders and we’re just that little bit closer to providing zero emissions services to our customers,” Sounds Air Group board chairman and director Rhyan Wardman told Morning Report yesterday.

“The pace with which this technology improvement is happening means we feel reasonably comfortable that between 2026 and 2030 electric aircraft will become more and more capable of flying the regional sectors we fly.”

In a statement Sounds Air said it is excited to be part of this world leading technology and the order for 200 ES-19s by United Airlines cements the future of the project.

Heart Aerospace’s first aircraft is the ES-19, a 19 passenger regional airplane driven entirely by batteries and electric motors. Heart anticipates delivering the first ES-19 for

commercial use by 2026. 

“You are immediately taken by how quiet it is. We’re anticipating that the flight experience will be a quieter one, a smoother one, and all the more pleasant,” Rhyan said.

The first-generation aircraft will have a maximum range of up to 400 km, using today’s lithium-ion batteries. Range will increase as battery energy densities improve.

The ES-19 will have zero operational emissions, and offer significantly lower operating costs compared to similar sized gas-turbine aircraft. The ES-19 aircraft will also be quieter than its turboprop counterparts, with less vibration and noise. These characteristics make the aircraft ideal for the development of short range regional air travel.

PHOTO: Heart Aerospace