Words by

Iryna Zubenko

Photo by

Vísir

A new page was written in Icelandic aviation history yesterday with the first passenger flight of an electric aircraft in the country, reports Vísir.

The President of Iceland and the Prime Minister became the first passengers to try out the plane. They agreed that this marks a new stage in Iceland’s journey towards clean energy in air transport.

Guðni Th. Jóhannesson was the first to take to the flight with the pilot Matthías Sveinbjörnsson. Matthías founded the Rafmagnsflug company together with Friðrik Pálsson. The company has brought the TF-KWH plane to Iceland.

“The time comes when the number of electric airplanes increases. They will have a longer range, can carry more passengers, and I think this development will be faster every year,” said Guðni after the flight.

Guðni agreed that the flight was comfortable and symbolic. He also believes that soon Iceland will become a country where electric planes will make a stopover before embarking on a journey across the Atlantic ocean.

Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir took the flight after the President. After the flight, she said it felt good, even though she normally doesn’t find it comfortable to be in small planes.

“Having taken this flight convinces me that we have come incredibly close to taking the first steps in the energy shift in aviation, and I am convinced that in the next decade, we will see the domestic flights in Iceland move to green energy,” said Katrín.