Gloucestershire businessman to launch electric powered airline

Sustainability campaigner and businessman Dale Vince has announced plans to launch the UK’s first electric powered airline.

The founder of Gloucestershire firm Ecotricity and the owner of Forest Green Rovers has revealed his next venture will see him taking to the skies.

Ecojet will launch early next year with a 19-seater plane servicing a route between Edinburgh and Southampton.

The planes will initially operate on kerosene-based fuel before being retrofitted with engines that convert hydrogen into electricity.

Dale Vince said “We want to prove that one of the last frontiers of decarbonisation can be broken and that it’s not insolvable.”

The airline will launch with several planes capable of travelling for 300 miles.

The ambition is to expand the number of routes to cover all of the UK’s major cities.

A second phase, 18 months later, will see the introduction a 70-seater planes capable of flying to Europe.

The company is applying for a licence from the Civil Aviation Authority and securing slots at airports.