Air New Zealand placed an order with Beta for a single Alia eCTOL for demonstration purposes last year. Photo Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand has announced that it has selected Wellington and Marlborough airports as the ports for its first all-electric aircraft regional service in partnership with NZ Post. The services will be operated using Beta ALIA eCTOL aircraft and, initially, at least, be all-cargo operations.
While Wellington will be the home base for the ALIAs, Marlborough will also build the charging infrastructure for the return flights. Air New Zealand’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Kiri Hannifin said the purpose of the commercial demonstrator is to set the New Zealand aviation system up for introducing lower emissions aircraft. “We are incredibly grateful to both Wellington and Marlborough airports for being so willing to take on a leadership role in supporting Air New Zealand to establish next-generation aircraft capability in our business. Their involvement is critical in supporting the infrastructure required to fly next-generation aircraft, and they’ll help lead the way in supporting airports across Aotearoa [the Māori-language name for New Zealand] to make the changes needed for us to fly larger, lower-emissions aircraft on our domestic network from 2030.”
