– A whole new mode of transport – like a bus with wings, says Maria Fiskerud, Senior Project Leader at RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden), of the role of electric-powered flights in the near future.
As Project Leader of the RISE-managed NEA project (Nordic Network for Electric Aviation), Maria Fiskerud will also play a significant role within the FAIR project, which the Kvarken Council and other actors have applied funding for.
Fiskerud will have an important role in the planned electric flight project FAIR, which the Kvarken Council and RISE, along with other actors, have applied funding for. Fiskerud has previously served as Fly Green Fund’s CEO, SkyNRG Norden’s Director, and AkzoNobel’s Head of Communications and Marketing.
As the current Project Leader of the RISE-managed NEA project (Nordic Network for Electric Aviation), Fiskerud’s role in the Kvarken Council’s electric flight project FAIR is obvious as RISE is one of FAIR’s planned beneficiaries and also runs one of the project’s work packages.
– As a Project Leader I mostly work with various system solutions – not directly with technological solutions, Fiskerud explains. She views the FAIR project as immensely important for the Nordic countries as a whole and for the individual regions, for several reasons. An early implementation of electric flights in the region would meet the region’s challenges, such as demographic changes, long distances and inadequate east-west connections as well as also the global demand and need to reduce climate and environmental impacts.
– The project facilitates regional development and new business opportunities as electric flights in themselves enable new business models with more direct connections and, in addition, can create new routes for shorter connections. This opens up a system for freer departures with fewer passengers, Fiskerud continues.
Cooperation opportunities between the regions and the Nordic countries would increase, and Fiskerud brings up Umeå (Sweden) and Vaasa (Finland) as a concrete example. – Electric flights would form a sky bridge between these two cities.
According to Fiskerud, both the aviation industry and the electric aircraft manufacturers are ready. – If the Nordic countries cooperate, we will become the eleventh-largest economy in the world and can make a difference by showing that we have brave politicians and the ability to act already today, she states.
Text: Anna Sand Photo: Staffan Flodin