The Green Flight Academy is a product of the ELIS program's efforts to advance electrified aviation. BBC Travel decided to pay a visit to the world’s first pilot program designed from a sustainability perspective. The program has a reach of approximately 70 million viewers each week.
Watch the BBC Travel Show and listen to our coworker Annelie Viksten at the Elis program talk about electric aviation.
Cecilia Holmlund, Operation Manager at Green Flight Academy in Skellefteå:
"The ELIS program is extremely important to us. It had not been possible to conduct our operation at an airport that does not have the infrastructure that we have here. The infrastructure, the projects that are carried out and the skills involved and generates, has given us the opportunity to offer a world-unique pilot program in Skellefteå. Our participation in the ELIS program has also given us important contacts. e.g. BRA flights that we encountered within the framework of the hydrogen project and where we are now, we see real business opportunities. Business begets business and ELIS is the engine that pushes the development of electrified aviation forward".
Building a large urban droneport in a subarctic climate is an innovative project with no direct templates or guidelines. After extensive planning, the site is now paved, and the buildings are in place, but some work remains before the grand opening.
The take-off and landing area and surrounding areas have now been paved with materials that significantly reduce climate impact. By using Asfalt Zero – a climate-smart asphalt made with pine oil – Skellefteå is setting an example for environmentally friendly infrastructure.
It started with an idea on a post-it note two years ago, and by the end of this year, the idea will become a reality. Skellefteå Droneport is one of the first droneports in Europe being built in an urban environment. The Droneport will be a physical space for development, research, education, and commercialization of drone-related solutions.