Developing a fully electric Emirati aircraft and operating it in 2028

The Edge Group revealed the development of an electric plane that will be completely manufactured in the UAE and will be in operation in 2028. The Vice President of Future Systems at Kintsugi Company, a subsidiary of the Edge Group, Tariq Al-Bannai, said in press statements, on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi Air Show. 2024, which began yesterday, said that operational trials of the aircraft (E 20 plus) will begin next year, and its operations will begin during 2028.

Al-Bannai explained that the plane has the capacity to carry five people, including the pilot, while its payload reaches 450 kilograms, flies at an altitude of up to 2,000 feet, and covers a distance of 240 kilometers in 50 minutes.

For his part, Captain Mohammed Al Nowahi, Vice President of Aviation Operations at Etihad Airways, said at the opening of the Abu Dhabi Aviation Conference yesterday, “There are 336 Emirati pilots working at (Etihad Airways), constituting 19% of the total pilots in the company,” pointing out that He plans to increase the number of Emirati pilots to more than 600 by 2030. He added that Etihad Airways is currently relaunching the national program for training and qualifying Emirati pilots. To include 50 to 70 Emirati pilots annually until 2030.

In the same context, the General Manager of Etihad Airport Services Company, Gibran Al-Buraiki, said: “Etihad Airways currently has 1,800 pilots, 4,600 cabin crew, and 95 aircraft, while it currently operates its flights to 83 destinations, and plans to have 3,000 pilots and 8,000 crew members.” Hospitality, 160 aircraft, as well as 125 destinations by 2030.”

For his part, the head of human resources at the Sanad Group, Ibrahim Budabas, said in statements on the sidelines of the conference, “The company is implementing several programs to train Emiratis in the maintenance and overhaul of commercial aircraft engines, in cooperation with a number of universities and institutions, while the training programs continue.” For a period of 12 months.

He confirmed that the Saudization rate in senior management reached 39%, while the Saudization rate in Sanad in general will reach 32% by the end of the current year 2024.

He revealed that the value of the contracts signed by Sanad regarding the maintenance and overhaul of engines, including long-term contracts, exceeded 33 billion dirhams.