Scotland sees electric flight demonstrations for Royal Mail postal routes

Loganair and BETA Technologies are using the ALIA CTOL electric aircraft for real-world demonstrations.

The demonstration series will be used to inform how Royal Mail could use electric to deliver essential services to remote Scottish communities. The  flights cover routes across Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Inverness, Wick and Orkney.

Starting this month with the first route being between Glasgow and Dundee, further flights are planned between the other destinations. The flights will carry representative letters and parcels, replicating the daily mail flights Loganair operates so Royal Mail can deliver to the Scottish highlands and islands.

Luke Farajallah, CEO at Loganair, says, ‘We are not talking about concepts, prototypes, or distant ambition, this is a real tangible programme of flying across our network which will provide invaluable data on how an electric aircraft could perform in a real commercial environment.’

BETA’s ALIA CTOL is an all-electric conventional take-off and landing aircraft designed for regional cargo and passenger operations. It requires no new airport infrastructure, operates from existing runways, and recharges in approximately 20-40 minutes using BETA’s fast-charging system.

With a maximum demonstrated range of 336 nautical miles and a payload capacity of up to 560kg, the aircraft is well matched to the high-frequency regional routes that define Loganair’s Scottish network.