Autonomous commercial vehicles are already being tested at Örnsköldsvik Airport. Within the next six months, operations will be expanded when an aircraft with electric motors is to be tested at the airport. The aircraft itself can carry two passengers and an additional 200 kg of cargo as much as 40 km at a speed of 450 km / h. It can also launch and land vertically as a helicopter.

- When they get a little, a little bigger, they will play a very important role in a regional transport work. They will also change the entire requirement for how a future airport is designed. We will be able to take off and land in completely different places. We will not need conventional starts on runways that are several kilometers long, says Björn Wahlström, head of research and innovation at the Civil Aviation Administration.

In traffic 2025

Within a few years it is hoped that electric aircraft for 19 passengers will be in traffic. The next step is an aircraft that can take 48 passengers. But for the start, the smaller model will be tested properly and the idea is that it will be used to support blue light operations and other socially beneficial functions.

- You can think of tasks linked to health care when you have far to the nearest laser. Deliveries and samples can be delivered in a simple and fast way, says Björn Wahlström.

Pilotless flight

Already the first version of the aircraft can be flown by pilot but also remotely controlled by a pilot from the ground. You can also fly autonomously based on a predetermined pattern.

- There is no other aircraft in the world that can do this and it is on its way here to Örnsköldsvik, says Björn Wahlström.