Zero noise, zero carbon emissions: the electric plane is already a reality in Brest. Getting on board means reviewing all the preconceived ideas about aviation. The Brest flying club has a small electric plane, the Pipistrel Velis Electro, the only certified rechargeable battery-powered plane in the world today. It already allows you to board a passenger for a flight lesson or for a baptism (by appointment) but for the moment, it is not certified for other missions.
Eighteen minutes of flight, a record
The public service delegation (DSP) provided by the company Finistair between Brest and Ouessant has already put its fingers in the grip. With an 18-minute flight between the mainland and the island, the airline, the shortest in Europe, is ideal for setting up a “zero carbon” link. “The Pipistrel that we share with the flying club could quickly allow us to provide small, low-volume transport, such as blood tests or drug deliveries within the framework of the DSP. For that, we have to wait for a charging station to be installed this summer in Ouessant,” explains Charles Cabillic, president of Finistair and founder of Green Aerolease.
“In 2023 or at the latest in 2024, the flight between the continent and Ouessant could also be done on board an electric plane and we are currently working on a carbon-free conversion of one of our Cessna Caravans. As soon as the regulations allow it, Finistair will thus be the first airline to transport passengers in an ecological aircraft”.
Consume less and produce more
This ecological and economic logic is pushed even more to the extreme by the flying club which has already planned work to transform the hangar it already has (or build a new one). “We still have to balance the budget for this project, with the Region, which owns the land, and perhaps also Brest Métropole, explains Jean-Pascal Royer, president of the flying club. And we would like to inaugurate our new hangar for the tenth anniversary of the flying club, in 2029. Solar panels installed on the roof will allow us to produce more electricity than is necessary to offset the carbon footprint of our planes or to recharge them if our fleet goes electric”.
In the meantime, the flying club should be able to count on aid from the Region voted in early May 2022: €10,000 annually granted to the seven aerodromes (including that of Brest) located on land which belongs to the Region. This sponsorship makes it possible to reduce the cost of renting an electric plane and will also allow the installation of a charging station.
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