Air New Zealand remains committed to exploring the introduction of electric and hybrid-electric aircraft despite an announcement this week that it is scrapping a net-zero carbon reduction target for 2030. A spokesperson for the carrier told AIN it is “still progressing all our work on next generation aircraft” when asked about the status of cooperation agreements it reached in December 2022 with Eviation, Beta Technologies, VoltAero, and Cranfield Aerospace Solutions.
At the time, as part of its Mission Next Gen Aircraft program, the airline signed a letter of intent to purchase three aircraft, and options for another 20, from at least one of the four companies in the partnership. In the U.S., Beta is developing a five-passenger piloted eVTOL aircraft called Alia, plus a fixed-wing version, and Eviation is working on a nine-passenger fixed-wing regional airliner. France-based VoltAero is seeking to bring a family of hybrid-electric aircraft to market, while in the UK Cranfield is developing hydrogen-powered versions of the Britten-Norman Islander.
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