World’s first fully-electric commercial aircraft completes test flight

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CNBC:

The world’s first fully-electric aircraft for commercial flight has taken to the skies in Canada. The plane flew above the Fraser River outside Vancouver for about seven minutes before touching down at around 8:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday.

Operating routes between hubs like Seattle and Vancouver, Harbour Air carries around 500,000 passengers on 30,000 commercial flights each year. MagniX and Harbour Air said they will now begin the certification and approval process for both the engine and the retrofitting of aircraft and hope to be operating an all-electric commercial fleet within two years.

This happened in my “backyard.” If you’ve ever visited Vancouver and seen seaplanes landing and taking off from the harbour, this is likely one of the companies whose planes you saw. Congratulations to them for this amazing accomplishment. Would you fly on an electric plane?