First electric aircraft in Deurne: “In the 1930s we flew to Nice and Milan without CO 2 emissions” (Deurne)

For the first time in history, an electric plane has taken off from Deurne. The aircraft does not fly on kerosene and does not emit CO₂. The ASL Group has purchased two units from the Slovenian manufacturer Pipistrel. Each device costs approximately 200,000 euros. But you can’t fly far with it for the time being. The planes can stay in the air for up to an hour. In practice this is forty minutes, to provide reserve time. The batteries must then be charged for an hour and a half before they are fully charged again.

“We are going to use these two electric planes to train pilots,” says Philippe Bodson. “With ASL Academy we have twenty-five to thirty pilots in training at all times. From now on, every new pilot will first learn to take off and land with these electric aircraft.”

Maximum of two people on the plane

Pipistrel’s electric planes can accommodate two people, who together can weigh a maximum of 180 kilos. “For us, these electric aircraft are loss-making in the short term,” says Philippe Bodson. “Not so much because of the purchase price, but because the operating time is limited to forty minutes. So we have to buy two planes to do the work of one plane. While we provide training with one device, the other device has to charge. But we are still making this investment because we want to be a pioneer in green technology.”

“For us, these electric aircraft will be loss-making in the short term, but we want to be a pioneer in green technology”

Philippe Bodson

manager of ASL Group

“And as far as those green ambitions are concerned: there are action groups that advocate closing Deurne airport, but that would be a disaster for the greening of aviation,” says Philippe Bodson. “Because we can only test these innovations at small regional airports. This is not possible at Zaventem airport. The business model there is completely different.”

Today, the electric planes in Deurne are used for pilot training. But when can we really travel with an electric plane? “I expect that electric flights from Deurne to Hamburg, for example, will certainly be possible by 2030,” says Philippe Bodson. “The capacity of the batteries improves every year. From 2027, we will use an aircraft from the German company Lilium here in Deurne, which can carry six people on board and fly 175 kilometers. The first prototype is currently being built. We have the option to purchase six devices. And from 2030, an electric plane with twenty-five to thirty people on board can fly five hundred to a thousand kilometers, meaning a flight from Deurne to Hamburg can be done without CO₂ emissions.”

Flying electric to Copenhagen

Wouter Dewulf, transport economist at the University of Antwerp, thinks the target date of 2030 is rather optimistic. “But in the 1930s we will certainly be able to fly five hundred to a thousand kilometers with fully electric aircraft,” says Wouter Dewulf. “Flights from Deurne or Zaventem to Copenhagen, Barcelona, ​​Nice, Milan and Zurich can then operate without CO₂ emissions. In the early 1930s, the number of seats in such an aircraft would be limited to twenty or thirty. By the end of the 1930s, this could increase to seventy to ninety seats.”

These are smaller aircraft than the current Embraers with which TUI Fly flies from Deurne to the Spanish sun, and which fly on classic kerosene. Those planes have 136 seats. If electric planes have fewer seats, can they be economically viable? “Yes, because they cost much less to use,” says Wouter Dewulf. “Maintenance costs are much lower, landing fees for electric aircraft are also cheaper and airlines do not have to pay CO₂ emission rights for electric flights. Electric flying is therefore the future for destinations up to a thousand kilometers.”