Booking an electric flight in Europe could become a reality within the next ten years, according to Maarten Steinbuch, a professor of mechanical engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology. In an interview with Euronews Earth, Steinbuch argued that the aviation industry needs the same regulatory push that accelerated the transition to electric cars.
Steinbuch, who has advised the Dutch government on mobility innovation, said that while the European Commission is focused on making current aircraft more sustainable, it is not doing enough to foster a revolution in electric aviation. “There is not enough attention yet to have a revolution in airspace electrification. So, it’s more an evolution and not yet a revolution,” he said.
Dutch startup leads the charge
One of the most concrete signs of this shift is Elysian Aircraft, a Dutch startup based in Delft. The company is developing a 90-passenger electric plane with a range of 800 kilometres initially, extendable to 1,000 kilometres. Co-founder Daniel Jacobson says the aircraft will have six engines and folding wingtips to fit existing airport gates. “The wings are very large,” he explained, “so we fold them to fit the current infrastructure.”
Jacobson believes the plane could eliminate emissions on half of the world’s flights, reducing total aerospace emissions by 20 percent. “That is a very large amount of flight activity in the world,” he said.
The project is still in development, but Steinbuch sees it as proof that electric flight is not a distant dream. “It’s not a dream, it is very real,” he said. “The most important part of development is the batteries. Batteries are the key thing. All over the world billions of euros and dollars are spent in development. Why? Because everybody knows that batteries are the Holy Grail for the transition both in mobility as well as in energy.”
Lessons from the electric car boom
Steinbuch draws a direct parallel with the automotive sector. Electric vehicles have spread across Europe faster than many predicted, with one in four cars sold worldwide in 2025 being electric, according to the International Energy Agency. That shift, he argues, was driven by government policy, not market forces alone.
“I have seen, in the electrification of passenger cars, that being strict on dates when manufacturers of cars effectively should have a sufficient number of models of electric cars available really helped,” he said. He believes the same approach should apply to aircraft manufacturers: “We need legislation saying that part of a fleet could be electrified in this or that year. Push that also with legislation.”
The European Commission could also speed up certification processes for new aircraft designs. Safety must remain the top priority, Steinbuch stressed, but he added that “it could help if the European Commission would put a little bit more effort in, so that those processes could be accelerated and giving space for scale-ups to build up both on the infrastructure for electrification of airflights, but also for the manufacturing and the startups who make new planes.”
Aviation's climate impact
Aviation contributes about six percent to global heating when both CO2 and other emissions are considered, according to campaign group Stay Grounded. In wealthy countries, the share is even higher. The UN's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has adopted a goal of “carbon neutral growth from 2020,” but Climate Action Tracker rates that goal as “highly insufficient.” CO2 emissions from international aviation have actually increased since 2020, as the goal relies on offsetting rather than real reductions.
Steinbuch argues that the EU should not settle for incremental improvements. Instead, it should push for a fundamental shift to zero-emission aircraft. “We can’t leave it to the airlines to cut their own emissions,” he said.
For passengers, the prospect of booking an electric flight within a decade may seem optimistic, but Steinbuch insists the technology is advancing rapidly. With the right regulatory framework, he believes electric flights could become as common as electric cars are today.
