Nordic Flight Electrification Efforts: 200,000 Tonnes of CO2 Can Be Saved

LONDON – Via a report released by KnowHow, around 200,000 tonnes of CO2 can be saved per year if flights in the Nordics went all-electric.

According to the report also, the aviation industry accounts for more than 900 million tonnes of CO2 each year, which is around 3% of all human-induced carbon emissions.

The report also pointed out which flights in the Nordics can go all-electric:

Departure Airport	Departure Country	Arrival	Arrival Country	Miles	Flight Time	Emissions (KG CO2 Per Passenger)
Kirkenes	Norway	Vadso	Norway	24	00:32	28
Batsfjord	Norway	Berlevag	Norway	24	00:32	29
Stokmarknes	Norway	Svolvaer	Norway	25	00:32	29
Esbjerg	Denmark	Billund	Denmark	28	00:33	29
Berlevag	Norway	Mehamn	Norway	29	00:33	29
Namsos	Norway	Rorvik	Norway	28	00:33	29
Bronnoysund	Norway	Sandnessjoen	Norway	35	00:33	30
Vadso	Norway	Vardo	Norway	35	00:33	30
Batsfjord	Norway	Vadso	Norway	37	00:34	30
Batsfjord	Norway	Vardo	Norway	36	00:34	30

Shortest Flights for All Nordics

KnowHow said the following about the table above: “Unsurprisingly, the shortest flights are all domestic.”

“90% of these flights are between Norwegian airports, and they’re all under 40 miles, and under 35 minutes of average flight time; however, they still emit around 30kg of C02 on average per passenger.”

“With an average of 100 passengers per commercial flight, this means that going electric can save 3,000kg of C02 emissions just on one of these short-haul flights alone.”

Departure Airport	Arrival Airport	Flights Per Month	CO2 Saved (KG Per Month)
Copenhagen	Oslo	379	2,728,800
Copenhagen	Amsterdam	358	2,971,400
Oslo	Stockholm Arlanda	283	1,698,000
Copenhagen	Stockholm Arlanda	276	2,070,000
Stockholm Arlanda	Helsinki	265	1,643,000
Helsinki	Tallinn	194	659,600
Helsinki	Riga	190	1,140,000
Bergen	Copenhagen	171	1,487,700
Copenhagen	Frankfurt	170	1,479,000
Copenhagen	Stavanger	161	1,223,600

International Flights With CO2 Savings

The biggest offender regarding carbon emissions was the Copenhagen to Amsterdam route, despite having fewer average flights per month.

Taking the commercial flight average of 100 passengers, this would mean that the total carbon emitted for this flight route every month is 2971.4 tonnes.

In total, based on these 10 flight routes alone, that’s a saving of 17,100,500 kg (17,100.5 tonnes) of CO2, or 205,206,000 kg (205,206 tonnes) annually, the equivalent of 2,597 airplanes at a maximum takeoff weight of 79,000kg when full of passengers, luggage and fuel.

As mentioned by KnowHow: “There are over 100 international flights departing from the Nordic region every month. While some of these flight routes depart less regularly (8 times per month at the lowest), the sheer impact of our flying habits is undeniable.”

Overall…

It remains clear that going all-electric in the Nordics for such flights will present significant benefits, especially with the industry’s push at the moment for sustainability.

As research into electric & hydrogen flights continues, we will no doubt see a slow transition from normal jet engines into the world of environmentally-friendly, net-zero engines.

Looking ahead, it’s going to be interesting to see how much further governments in the Nordics will go to make this a clear reality over the next decade or two.