You can tell just by the sound that ALIA is not a regular aircraft.
The battery-powered plane landed at Montreal’s Trudeau Airport from Plattsburgh, NY., for the first time on Wednesday.
The aircraft was designed by BETA Technologies, an electric aerospace company based in Vermont that opened up a Montreal office back in March.
“This aircraft which has been developed by people in Quebec and in Vermont has hundreds and hundreds of flights domestically in a research and development capacity all across the United States,” said Kyle Clark, BETA’s founder and CEO. “Wednesday was the first time we know of, that a battery electric airplane flew internationally.”
Officials with the International Civil Aviation Organization were in Montreal for the momentous occasion.
ICAO also acknowledged Alia’s journey as a first but in a post on LinkedIn the organization specified it was a first “for a 100 per cent electrically powered aircraft, configured to carry passengers or cargo.”
The ALIA CTOL aircraft has a range of about 215 nautical miles, which is about 400 kms, using battery technology similar to that of an electric car.
“With our big chargers, next to the airport, which sits next to the runway, it takes about 30 minutes or 50 minutes if you’re doing a long mission, to charge the aircraft up,” Clark said.
ALIA can cruise at a speed of about 120 km/hr, and is about 10 times quieter than a fuel-burning plane.
“It’s very intuitive for a pilot, the visibility, the acoustics and how quiet the aircraft is – it’s really a dream to fly,” said Chris Caputo, a BETA Pilot, who flew the plane to Montreal.
The aircrafts are currently being used to transfer cargo and logistics for customers such as UPS.
BETA says this is just the tip of the iceberg. The aircraft is on track for FAA certification in 2025, with BETA’s ALIA VTOL model vying for certification by 2026.
The International Civil Aviation Organization says electric aviation is the way of the future.
“Our goal is by the year 2050 to have a net zero emissions industry,” said Juan Carlos Salazar, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Secretary General, “And air transportation that is at the same time safe, secure and very efficient in the terms of air space.”