Rex will trial the use of planes with retrofitted electric engines on short regional flights of under one hour as soon as 2024.
According to the airline’s deputy chairman John Sharp, one of Rex’s 34-seat Saab 340s – retrofitted with an electric and hydrogen-powered MagniX engine – will be used to trial the technology on short routes such as Adelaide-Mount Gambier.
“We will be doing trials in 2024, with a real aircraft, where we’ll swap out the existing engine, which burns jet fuel,” Sharp told the
ABC. “And we’ll put in an electric motor that will be supported by a combination of both batteries and hydrogen.”