Bristow Completes Norway Electric Aircraft Trial

Bristow Group has completed a six-month, 126-flight operational trial of Beta Technologies’ Alia electric aircraft flying on a cargo route between Stavanger and Bergen in Norway.

Following on the heels of Bristow’s first firm order for Electra’s hybrid-electric EL9, completion of the Norway trial keeps the global operator on its path toward introducing advanced air mobility (AAM) to offer new services to existing customers as well as develop new cargo and passenger markets.

Over the past five years, Bristow has signed letters of intent with multiple AAM developers covering crewed and uncrewed eVTOL, electric conventional-takeoff-and-landing (eCTOL) and electric short-takeoff-and-landing (eSTOL) aircraft.

The partnerships led to Bristow placing its first firm order with Beta in 2022, for five Alia A250 eVTOL aircraft, and taking delivery of an Alia CX300 eCTOL aircraft in 2025 for the Norway trial. This was followed in January by a deposit-backed order for five Electra EL9 Ultra Short eSTOL aircraft.

There is a place in Bristow’s plans for multiple different AAM aircraft types.

“Different models in different places, as we’ve learned with our experience in Norway with the Beta Alia CX300,” says David Stepanek, Bristow executive vice president and chief transformation officer.

“[Alia has] exceeded our expectations in reliability, performance and cost,” he says. But when the all-electric aircraft is compared to the hybrid-electric EL9 in the context of potential cargo and passenger networks “[Alia] costs more to operate just by virtue of not having as much payload and range. So, putting Alia and EL9 together in a logistics or transportation network makes a lot of sense to us.”

Bristow signed a joint development agreement with Electra in 2021, with the companies working together to look at different market opportunities. “We went through very detailed analysis, modeling [Cessna] Caravans, re-engined Caravans with hybrid-electric engines, other re-engined aircraft with hydrogen engines. We analyzed the whole structure of it, both the costs and reliability of future technologies, and it led us right back to the path of the EL9,” Stepanek says.

“Specifically, we were looking at Scandinavia, where there are a lot of geographical barriers and older airports with shorter runways which are being serviced by turboprop aircraft today. And as they want to expand services, and as those turboprop aircraft start to age out, they’re going to have to make major investments in extending runways and improving the facilities,” he says.

“The EL9 could eliminate that requirement for future investment. You can utilize the infrastructure that exists. That was very appealing to us,” Stepanek says. With the ability to take off and land with a ground roll of just 150 ft., the nine-passenger EL9 can operate not only from runways, but also taxiways, ramps, carparks and even vertiports built for helicopter and eVTOL operations.

“We could certainly [operate the EL9] at our vertiports, where we have around a 2,000-3,000-ft. FATO [final approach and takeoff area], because when we use our helicopters, we don’t pull into a hover and takeoff. We do a Performance Class 1 takeoff, so we’re taking up [a] couple of thousand feet, and we have that infrastructure in place,” he says.

“We couldn’t do that with a Caravan. We couldn’t do that with other smaller, well-equipped turboprop aircraft,” Stepanek says. For Bristow, the EL9 Ultra Short offers the potential of many more access points for air transportation. This is combined with the cost structure of a fixed-wing aircraft powered by a single turbogenerator driving eight electric motors.

“We think it’s a 50% reduction in direct operating costs relative to turboprop aircraft, and it’s even greater for a helicopter,” he says. “And this doesn’t mean that we don’t think battery electric is right. We think battery electric is also part of the play in working these aircraft in a network, but [the EL9 is] about half the price of 100% battery-electric because it has more payload and range.”

Over the six-month trial in Norway, Bristow flew the Alia a total of almost 8,750 nm on regular test flights on a cargo route between Stavanger and Bergen. This provided airports, air traffic control and regulators real-world experience with charging infrastructure, winter operations, new procedures and future training requirements for fire and rescue services related to propulsion batteries. “We learned a great deal, and we look forward to sharing that insight,” Stepanek says.

Bristow expects to play a similar role with the EL9 Ultra Short, helping develop its capabilities. “We can demonstrate to the FAA that we can land these aircraft on runways, on taxiways, in restricted areas, as was done in West Virginia,” he says, referring to a November 2025 flight by Electra’s EL2 technology demonstrator to the remote Snowshoe ski resort in Snowshoe, West Virginia. “That’s what we bring. We think the total size of the market can be huge because of the access points and cost structure. We will be part of assisting that.”