Green energy tycoon to launch UK’s first electric airline

The green energy tycoon Dale Vince is planning to launch Britain’s first electric airline in a move designed to prove polluting industries can decarbonise. Ecojet, styled as a “flag carrier for green Britain”, will launch early next year with a 19-seater plane travelling on a route between Edinburgh and Southampton. The planes will run initially on kerosene-based fuel for the first year, before being retrofitted with engines that convert green hydrogen into electricity. Vince founded the UK’s first green energy company, Ecotricity, in 1995 and has spent his career launching low-carbon and ethically minded ventures across energy, transport, food and football. He is the chair of League Two’s Forest Green Rovers, known as the “world’s greenest football club”. Vince told the Guardian: “We want to prove that one of the last frontiers [of decarbonisation] can be broken and that it’s not insolvable. A lot of people seem to think that people who are eco-conscious want everyone to live a life of self-denial in a cave. Green living is not about giving things up – everything we like to have in this life can be done in a net zero life.” The airline will launch with several green-striped 19-seater planes capable of travelling for 300 miles. Vince hopes to expand the number of routes out to cover all of Britain’s big cities. Staff will wear environmentally friendly uniforms, and serve plant-based meals. A second phase, 18 months later, will result in 70-seater planes capable of flying to Europe being introduced. The company is in the process of applying for a licence from the Civil Aviation Authority and securing takeoff and landing slots at airports. However, the process of launching an airline is regarded as slow, and Ecojet will not launch as an electric plane operator, starting by using kerosene-based fuel instead.<br/>