In autumn 2025, an electric aircraft will fly between Stavanger and Bergen. Before that, the necessary infrastructure must be in place and Avinor has announced plans to procure fast chargers for electric aircraft.
In April 2024, Avinor and the Civil Aviation Authority of Norway entered a collaboration to establish Norway as an international test arena for zero and low-emission aviation. Avinor’s role in this work is to facilitate the infrastructure at airports and in the airspace.
“Today, there are no chargers for aircraft at Avinor’s airports,” said Anders Kirsebom, acting CEO, Avinor. “The use of batteries as an energy carrier in aircraft is still a new technology, but there are many electric aircraft under development. Avinor expects that in the coming years, several rechargeable aircraft will be certified, increasing the need for charging infrastructure for aircraft.”
The test flights will be cargo flights without passengers and flown with the ALIA aircraft from the American aircraft manufacturer BETA and flown by Bristow Norway. The flights will commence at Stavanger Airport, Sola, before flights between Sola and Bergen Airport, Flesland begin later.
At Stavanger Airport, a charger will be purchased for installation, while in Bergen, a mobile charging solution with a battery bank will be rented to charge electric aircraft at the airport during test operations in the autumn and winter of 2025/2026.
Avinor expects to award the contracts during the first quarter of 2025, for delivery no later than 1 June in Stavanger and no later than 15 August in Bergen.
“Avinor wants to involve the Norwegian supplier industry and get more charging players onboard through the test arena project,” said Kirsebom. “The electrification of the car fleet in Norway has contributed to the design of many innovative solutions for charging various vehicles by Norwegian players. Avinor hopes to see the same innovative capability in this procurement and that we receive many offers, even though no one has a finished solution today.”
