The first end-to-end flight of Harbour Air’s De Havilland Beaver has been completed. The company took a more environmentally friendly approach by electrifying short-haul flights. On August 17th, Harbour Air’s De Havilland Beaver completed its first point-to-point test. The plane took off from Fraser River Terminal at 8:12 a.m. It took 24 minutes and covered 45 miles (72 kilometres) before landing at Patrica Bay on Vancouver Island. The entire journey was powered by electricity, and there was plenty of it.
Electric commercial aircraft completed its first successful flight
De Havilland Beaver, an electric commercial aircraft, completed its first successful flight above the Fraser River at Harbour Air’s terminal in Richmond, British Columbia in December 2019. Since then, the company has been testing, certifying, and approving the aircraft with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Transport Canada.
The electric propulsion system used by Harbour Air is a result of its partnership with MagniX and other companies in the aviation space. Kory Paul, Vice President at Harbour Air said, “I am excited to report that this historic flight on the e-Plane went exactly as planned”. He added, “Our team as well as the team at magniX and Transport Canada are always closely monitoring the aircraft’s performance and today’s flight further proved the safety and reliability of what we have built.”
Harbour Air is North America’s largest airline, carrying approximately 500,000 passengers on 30,000 commercial flights each year. The company intended to retrofit six-seater seaplanes with an electric propulsion system to its fleet. The company’s goal for 2019 was to become the world’s first all-electric airline.
