For operators, the shift to electric aviation is no longer theoretical. It’s becoming a business imperative.
Speaking during a visit to Noemi Aerospace, CEO of Nordic Seaplanes, Ole Christiansen, pointed to one immediate driver: fuel. “Fuel prices are going up and up. At the moment, we are more than two and a half times what it was last year, and it doesn’t look like it’s going down anytime soon,” he said.
For an operator built on short, frequent routes, that reality is reshaping how the future fleet is defined. Electric aviation, he explains, offers a fundamentally different cost structure, not unlike the shift seen in the automotive sector. “It’s a completely different thing having an electric car compared to a petrol car, and that’s going to be exactly the same for the electric airplane.”
But economics is only part of the equation. As regulators increase pressure on emissions and communities push back on noise, access becomes just as critical as cost. “We have two large competitors: CO₂ emissions and noise,” Christiansen said. “If we can bring in an aircraft that is significantly quieter, it will completely change the scenario. We’ll be able to fly to destinations we can’t serve today.”
For regional operators, that unlock is transformative: more routes, more flexibility, without the need for new infrastructure. For Noemi Aerospace, the ambition is clear: to make electric, amphibious aviation not just possible, but operationally and commercially viable.
And for Nordic Seaplanes, the stakes are equally clear.
“To be honest,” Christiansen said, “without changing to something like NOEMI, we probably wouldn’t be here in ten years.”