Skip to content

VIDEO: Harbour Air gears up for launch of first fully-electric commercial seaplane

Harbour Air is launching what it’s calling the first-ever fully-electric commercial plane

If you look up to the skies over Richmond next week, you might just see a record-breaking flight.

Harbour Air is launching what it’s calling the first-ever fully electric commercial plane. The six-passenger DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver will be retrofitted with a 750-horsepower all-electric magni500 propulsion system.

The test flight is scheduled for Dec. 11 at the south terminal at Vancouver International Airport.

In a statement, the airline said it has installed the batteries, tested the electronic systems, installed wings, rigged up flight controls and run a full-power test on the ground.

Harbour Air, which flies to the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, Whistler, Seattle and the Sunshine Coast, became the first airline in North America to go carbon-neutral by buying carbon offsets in 2007.

READ MORE: Harbour Air to convert to all-electric seaplanes


@katslepian

katya.slepian@bpdigital.ca

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.