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United Airlines revealed on Tuesday, July 13, that it would be investing in the purchase of 100 19-seater electric planes. The American air carrier will be ordering the ES-19 battery-powered aircraft from Heart Aerospace, a Swedish start-up company.
Apparently, United Airlines will be using the planes for domestic flights. It was mentioned that this purchase is another innovation-related announcement that the airline has dropped recently.
Why United Airlines picked the electric planes
According to Reuters, the airline has been getting into innovations lately as it is facing pressure to cut emissions. The electric-powered planes will definitely help the company respond to the calls to be environmentally friendly by getting rid of harmful gas emissions.
It was added that part of United Airlines’ efforts to be part of the “clean and green” drive is an investment in Bill Gate’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Mesa Airlines Inc. Then again, the firm did not disclose how much it shelled out for the investment.
Mesa Airlines will be buying an additional 100 ES-19 electric planes, and the purchase is also subject to the same requirements as with United Airlines. The said battery-operated aircraft could carry customers on a flight of up to 250 miles. This type of plane is set to be available for service by 2026.
Aiming for zero emissions in the future
In any case, since this is just a small electric plane, it can only make short-distance trips. Then again, United Airlines can also use these planes to connect hubs such as Chicago O'Hare International Airport to smaller routes.
"We don't want to wait for 50 seats, 75 seats, 125-seat aircraft," Chicago Tribune quoted
the president of United Airlines Ventures, Mike Leskinen, as saying in a statement. "We want to get involved now by investing in a company that we think has a big technological lead with the hopes of over time working with them to move the size of the aircraft to a larger gauge."
Finally, Leskinen said that he sees the electric planes which generate zero operational emissions as a first step to having larger planes run on batteries. United Airlines added that it will commit to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 100% by the year 2050.
