‘No long way out before we see an aircraft with an electric drive,’ says Simon Ward
Electric-powered aircraft will come into service within five or 10 years, starting with small types such as taxis, said the head of Airbus Turkiye.
Simon Ward told Anadolu Agency that even medium-sized aircraft with hybrid engines will be seen within the next 10 years.
Noting that a hybrid-powered aircraft’s operating system is similar to that of hybrid cars, he said these aircraft use electricity for accelerating which means less fuel burned and less emission.
“We are very active on electric airplanes. Realistically, that is no long way out before we see an aircraft with an electric drive. Airlines are investing very heavily in aircraft with less fuel burn,” he said.
Saying there is a fast-growing period for the aviation sector in the post-pandemic recovery process, he noted that Turkiye in particular has recovered very fast.
There is a huge demand for the aircraft sector, and ticket prices were affected by increasing demand and oil prices, he said.
“Prices are up because we cannot put more aircraft into the system fast enough for the demand spike that we’re seeing.”
He expects prices to come back down again with weaker demand levels,decreasing fuel prices, and aircraft with less fuel burn.
Turkiye’s perfect location
Highlighting Turkiye’s position in the aviation sector, especially in Airbus, he said “Turkiye is quite literally the center of the world for aviation.”
“You couldn’t pick a more perfect location than Turkiye,” he said and noted that the country has good infrastructure at airports and geographically people can reach three-quarters of the world’s population within a four-hour flight.
Ward said there is a spike for air vehicles because Turkiye has the main route into Russia, so the demand for Turkish Airlines and Pegasus Airlines flights has really increased because of the Russian crisis.
Touching on the Russia-Ukraine war, he said Airbus was selling aircraft to Russia, but it will not sell anymore, and even stopped providing spare parts.
“We’ve absolutely blocked supplying into Russia right now,” he added.