Sydney Seaplanes’ all-electric airline is a world first

Australia’s first all-electric passenger flights are set to take to the skies over Sydney from 2023.

Sydney Seaplanes chief executive Aaron Shaw with one of the planes that will be powered by an electric engine. Picture: Adam Yip

Australia’s first all-electric passenger flights are set to take to the skies over Sydney from 2023.

Sydney Seaplanes has embarked on a process to modify its fleet of five aircraft to electric, no-emissions models, with a view to becoming the first airline in the world to do so.

Chief executive Aaron Shaw said the partnership with electric aircraft engine maker MagniX and Dante Aeronautical was very much in step with a growing environmental consciousness.

“Our business is about showing people around the most beautiful harbour in the world, up into national parks and potentially to (Canberra’s) Lake Burley Griffin,” Mr Shaw told The Australian. “It’s in our best interest to maintain those assets as they are or even better, and we believe we all have a part to play in ensuring we have a sustainable future.”

The first “all electric route” on the agenda would be a 10-minute flight from Rose Bay to Palm Beach in Sydney, followed by longer trips to Newcastle and Canberra as battery technologies improved.

Although it was too early to say what the flights might cost, Mr Shaw said it was reasonable to think fares would get cheaper as a result of the move to all-electric.

“I think it will. We will get to the point where we will have no fuel costs. Our fuel is going to be derived from solar power,” he said. “The electric engines are so much simpler than the turbines, and the overhaul time on electric engines is every 10,000 hours, compared to 3600 hours on turbine. That effectively triples the life of the engine and makes the cost of operating the engine significantly less.”

As well as the cost benefits, electric planes were also 75 per cent quieter than turbine-powered aircraft which made for a “more pleasant flight experience”, Mr Shaw said.

Work would now begin on obtaining the Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s approval for the ­electric Cessna Caravan’s supplemental type certificate (STC), clearing the way for the first passenger flights in 2023.

MagniX chief executive Roei Ganzarski said the partnership with Sydney Seaplanes was a “terrific milestone for the electric aviation revolution”. “Expanding with supplemental-type certificate partners globally on more and more aircraft platforms means more sustainable air travel brought to market and to the masses,” Mr Ganzarski said.

In December 2019, MagniX flew the world’s first commercial all-electric aircraft, the eBeaver, with North American seaplane operator Harbour Air.

That was followed by the first flight of the largest all-electric commercial aircraft, a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan in May.

Mr Shaw said the STC represented a significant investment on the part of Sydney Seaplanes, but he saw it as a necessary step.

“We believe in the long run, from an environmental and economic perspective, it’s something we must do,” he said.