SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK, Copenhagen Kastrup) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) to jointly research hybrid and electric aircraft and infrastructure requirements for such aircraft.
"We are proud of our ambitious sustainability work and are now pleased that Airbus has chosen SAS to partner up with us for this future project. If this becomes a reality, it will revolutionize emissions," SAS CEO Rickard Gustafson said.
The partnership will in the future also involve a renewable energy supplier to ensure zero emissions on the entire supply chain.
Other airlines involved in research related to the deployment of electric aircraft, albeit on a smaller scale, are Canada's Harbour Air Seaplanes (Vancouver Coal Harbour), which plans to convert all its seaplanes into electric aircraft, and Mokulele Airlines (MW, Kona), which plans to test such aircraft on its Hawaiian network. Air New Zealand (NZ, Auckland Int'l) has also partnered with Zephyr Airworks regarding the deployment of electric air taxis. Airbus SE (Toulouse Blagnac) itself is currently testing an electric powerplant on an ARJ-100 aircraft.
SAS currently operates a sizeable Airbus fleet which includes four A319-100s, eleven A320-200s, fifteen A320-200neo, eight A321-200s, eight A330-300s, eight A340-300s, as well as nine A320neo operated by its subsidiary SAS Scandinavian Airlines Ireland. It has a further forty-one A320neo, one A330-300, and eight A350-900s on order with the European manufacturer.