Panoramic view of the city of Oulu in Finland seen from the air
Photo: iStock

After clarifying all major driving forces in each case study, this section delves into possible impacts that the future implementation of electric aviation could have on the Nordic region. Those impacts were identified through discussions in the focus groups and organised according to the following topics: political, environmental, social, technological and economic impacts. Naturally, some of these impacts may overlap, but our goal is to highlight the variety of areas in which electric aviation may have a direct or indirect effect.

For every major transition on the market, political decisions and impacts should be taken into consideration. Electric aviation may have highly positive impacts on the political landscape in the Nordic region. For green islands such as Bornholm, electric aviation can assist efforts to become an even more sustainable area and help the local government reach the goals of the “Bright Green Island” vision. Additionally, implementation of a sustainable means to reach Bornholm using fossil-free transport would be a firm step in the right direction for the Green Energy Island initiative and the green energy hub in a broader sense. Similarly, in the case of the Lofoten Islands in Norway, electric aviation could play a strong part in helping the national government reach its climate goals – which are high on the agenda – by incentivising further reduction in emissions.

In general, since the Nordic region is known as a forerunner in sustainable solutions or, more precisely, electricity produced from renewable sources, such new implementation of green innovations would to a greater extent facilitate development of the common green Nordic image. Being a pioneer in sustainable transport solutions can raise the attractiveness of the region and generate positive national and international visibility. Electric aviation is a clear sign that a region is working on solutions to reach the climate goals. Electric aviation would likewise accelerate individual countries’ goals of having green domestic or international modes of transport. While that could be achieved by using SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) or hydrogen fuels and may not necessarily involve the routes presented in this study, a sustainable transition would have a positive impact on domestic political goals as well as on the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) (Aviation Benefits Beyond Borders, n.d.).

Moreover, due to electric aviation likely being used in the future for journeys between smaller airports and rural areas, it could potentially affect the way we view traditional borders and routes across them. Making regions more interconnected and open to new types of cooperation in rural areas, the Barents region, the High North and Bothnian Bay could have significant social, economic and political implications. Finally, electric aviation is set to drive political forces to step up their commitment to promoting financial regulations and incentives. As governments aim to reach climate goals, they may introduce emission reduction mandates and incentives for green aviation. The European Union could play a pivotal role in fostering such changes, making it attractive for aircraft manufacturers to invest in electric aviation.

As mentioned above, new financial incentives could be introduced and would therefore be a direct impact of the introduction of electric aircraft. Based on the implementation of electric aviation, the governments could impose taxes on non-sustainable fuel types or reduce taxes on green flights by creating an incentive to choose the environmentally sustainable options. While the question of whether the ticket prices would fall or rise is contested and still unanswered, the Icelandic focus group remains the most confident that the prices would be substantially lower. By contrast, the Danish focus group suggested that prices would rise significantly because of the smaller passenger capacity of the airplanes.

Municipalities in the northern parts of the region, such as in northern Sweden, could benefit from promising opportunities for new electric aviation routes. Those new routes could lead to the creation of transport hubs in the north with new financial benefits for the areas. On a different note, because of the lower noise level of electric aircraft, the housing prices around airports might increase, especially in places where the airport is located close to the city, such as in Copenhagen. However, such impacts would only be tangible when most of the fleet becomes electric. Similarly in Iceland, electric aviation could impact the debate on whether to relocate Reykjavik Airport further outside the city, since noise pollution would decrease. The impact would therefore have indirect financial consequences. 

The debate on economic impacts revolved to a significant extent around the tourism sector, which emerged as an important topic during the focus group discussions. The most influential and important impact concerning tourism is the ability of electric aviation to open up the possibility for new destinations. Small airports located in rural areas can accommodate electric aircraft due to their compact size. Electric aviation could therefore offer tourists the possibility of more remote vacation destinations in the northern parts of Norway, Sweden or Finland or in Iceland, to which the journey would otherwise be significantly longer. Likewise, more remote areas could benefit in terms of tourism if those local areas put enough effort into business development. Product portfolios in tourism often only include locations and services of a particular region, but if there will be a closer network of flight connections in the future, it would be wise to begin thinking in terms of a wider region and offer a broader range of tourism destinations. Quick tourism trips around a remote area could be expected in such case.

By offering sustainable travel options, tourist destinations could enhance their sustainable tourism label, such as in the case of the Lofoten Islands. They could additionally attract environmentally-aware people, who would otherwise be unable to reach certain areas. Nevertheless, as mentioned above, ticket prices are an essential variable for the success of such vision. If the implementation of electric aviation proves successful, the region could expect more frequent flights with smaller airplanes and cheaper tickets, carrying tourists to unexplored parts of the north. Some participants envisaged an opportunity for tourist agencies to offer flights to holiday destinations by electric aircraft, which could function as a selling point. There would undoubtedly be further opportunities to develop tourism.

In the case of Iceland, currently most domestic flight routes connect towns to Reykjavík (a regional hub) but do not connect towns outside of Reykjavík with one another. Lower operating costs and a higher flight frequency using smaller airplanes could lead to flight connections to the Westfjords and the east. It is currently very expensive to fly via the Reykjavík hub from Akureyri to those areas. Therefore, if electric aviation would offer lower ticket prices, as is expected in the case of Iceland, such issues could be overcome.

Another aspect of economic impacts includes commercial development, facilitated by electric aviation. Since some areas, especially in secluded regions, lack skilled workers, electric aviation could facilitate their transport. Presuming a higher flight frequency once electric aviation has been implemented, there could be higher mobility of skilled workers. There is a fairly high possibility that companies would fly their workers in and hence pay for their tickets. In that case, the issue of prices would still be significant, but would pose a lesser concern.

New business opportunities could also emerge due to electric aviation. New flight connections enabled by electric aviation could bring forth many new opportunities for business activity and interregional cooperation, lowering the threshold for engaging in new business ventures between regions. While preparing for electric aviation routes, there could be new cooperation possibilities between regions and businesses, in the scope of which new product models could be built or new potential services piloted, e.g. for tourism. Electric aviation could thus impact the attractiveness of a given area and provide another industrial boost to local industries and businesses.

To give an example, when considering cross-border possibilities between Sweden and Finland, the availability of electric flights on the route between Skellefteå-Oulu would enable some geographical challenges to be overcome, such as the constraints posed by the Gulf of Bothnia. That would have a positive impact on connectivity among enterprises and businesses. Improved east-west connections may introduce new actors and cooperation to business life in the destinations. Other participants noted that Kajaani and Oulu in Finland might profit in particular from new business opportunities provided by electric aviation.

Electric aviation may have several important benefits for the welfare of Nordic citizens. One of the significant improvements is linked to healthcare accessibility, as observed in several of the case studies. Because of more frequent flights, possibly cheaper prices and even the probable development of an electric helicopter further down the line (as mentioned in the Danish case), the connectivity between rural and urban areas would increase. In the case of Bornholm, where the practice is for the state to compensate journeys for those needing to visit the hospital in Copenhagen, an agreement would be needed with the operators and healthcare providers about the details of such transport. Healthcare accessibility could increase in other Nordic areas, where connections are not as well developed, such as in Iceland or the north of Sweden due to large distances between settlements. New possibilities for cooperation between hospitals could also arise, as the hospitals would be better connected.

Another probable impact relates to the accessibility of education in the Nordic region, as is seen in most of the case studies. For example, in Denmark, electric aviation is unlikely to be a factor that attracts students to the given areas, but teachers living in Sjæland might be willing to fly and teach in Bornholm. Such journeys could be made once or twice per week for a specific subject or a programme that is being (partly or fully) taught in Bornholm higher education institutions. That would also imply that the university would pay for these tickets.

Other specialists working in the public sector would have easier access to clients in rural areas and the clients would likewise have improved access to the services that they require. Such an instance was underlined in Iceland but is also evident in other cases. However, when considering this impact, the cross-border connection between Oulu and Skellefteå should be excluded, as the focus group did not see the need for patients to travel between countries for public services. However, electric aviation connections within the north of Sweden, where the distances are large, could have a beneficial impact on the accessibility of public services. A regional hub in northern Sweden for electric aviation could connect more rural settlements to important services, such as specialist healthcare in Skellefteå or Umeå, that may be lacking in the local area.

However, the extent to which accessibility could rise still depends on the electric aviation routes and costs. If the routes provide more flexibility, easy access to public services and the prices are affordable, then it may have an impact on healthcare, educational opportunities and other public services for the people of the Nordic region.

In line with social impacts, electric aviation might also influence demographic developments, which could then have an effect on other categories of impacts. For instance, electric aviation is likely to enhance the region’s appeal to younger people and students. The presence of aviation services is vital for geographically distant areas. It could make the region more attractive, particularly for those interested in environmental sustainability and younger generations seeking opportunities. Notably, electric aviation might attract a certain group of climate-conscious young people to choose the electric airplane instead of a polluting ferry or car to travel between two areas.

Furthermore, by attracting students and creating attractive jobs, electric aviation could potentially counteract outmigration. It might facilitate more flexible travel options and potentially reduce the impact of outmigration from less populated Nordic cities. Thus electric aviation can function as a force of attraction to facilitate in-migration. However, several participants noted that this should be treated with caution since it is seen as an unlikely development in the near future.

Electric aviation may additionally be looked to as a source of inspiration for further development of technology and upgrading of aviation infrastructure. The implementation of electric aviation would involve upgrading airports to accommodate new requirements such as charging stations, better public transport (connectivity) with cities, possibly even new departure terminals and a larger parking area. Further, electrification of the aviation industry could open more doors to the development of other technologies such as electric drones (which could deliver packages and/or be flown by people) and electric helicopters (which could support windmills, oil rigs and other innovative solutions). However, the possibility of such developments should be assessed by experts.

One of the primary and most direct benefits of electric aviation is the substantial reduction in emissions, especially during flight operation. This aligns with the climate goals set out in the Nordic region and individual states while pursuing sustainability efforts. Furthermore, the limited infrastructure requirements for electric aviation, such as short runways due to the size of the airplanes, would have a reduced impact on biodiversity compared to conventional and larger aircraft. The use of electric airplanes between destinations could potentially result in an increase in cargo (mainly for light loads) being transported by airplanes. That would mean a decreasing number of lorries on the roads and would contribute to passenger, cyclist and pedestrian safety. The focus groups had little doubt about the beneficial environmental effects that implementation of electric aviation could have on the region. However, some participants voiced their concerns about pollution during the production phase of the battery. Similarly, several participants were concerned about disposal of the battery at the end of its lifetime.

It should also be noted that considerations related to potential environmental impacts were not always strictly related to electric aircraft. Indeed, numerous participants emphasised the importance of considering a diverse range of low-carbon and hybrid alternatives, such as low-carbon fuels, rather than concentrating solely on electric aviation. Narrowing the focus too much could potentially isolate development of the field, hindering innovation. Such comments should be considered when further assessing the implementation of electric aircraft.

As described above, electric aviation can have a variety of impacts on the Nordic region. It is difficult to pinpoint the precise scale of such impacts, but each focus group identified particular impacts for the given country. In Denmark, the focus group stressed the positive impact that electric aviation might have by supporting the green transition on the island of Bornholm. In addition, the participants highlighted the importance of stable connections, resulting in improved access to mainland Denmark, as another key impact. The Finnish focus group underlined the effects that electric aviation could have on businesses in the region. By facilitating closer cooperation between industries in the various destinations, electric aviation could help the region discover new business opportunities. In the case of Iceland, the discussion focused on better accessibility, assuming that electric aviation results in increased flight frequency, lower airplane ticket prices and/or number of airports in domestic aviation. Electric flights could enable people to reach both necessary services and remote areas without journeys taking several hours. Similarly, in the Norwegian case, key impacts included good accessibility from Bodø to the Lofoten islands, which could counter outmigration and provide easier access to services. Moreover, it would significantly contribute to the sustainable tourism label of the Norwegian region, which could further boost tourist interest. Finally, the Swedish case highlighted a variety of possible impacts; creating a regional electric aviation hub could create better accessibility within the north of Sweden, connecting people to services and offering better business opportunities.

The introduction of electric aviation in the Nordic region was generally viewed positively, with expectations of improved sustainability, accessibility and economic opportunities. The unique characteristics highlighted by each focus group underscore the need for a tailored approach to leverage the full spectrum of benefits in each country. As the Nordic region heads towards this transformative shift, continued collaboration, assessment of potential challenges and strategic planning will be essential to maximise the positive impacts of electric aviation in the Nordic countries.