Climate-friendly UK regional start-up Ecojet Airlines has pushed back the launch of services until early 2025 as it builds the operation for “long-term success”.
Unveiled last year by green energy entrepreneur Dale Vince, Ecojet was supposed to begin flights on the Edinburgh-Southampton route in early 2024, a target that subsequently slipped into the second half.
But Brent Smith, chief executive at the Edinburgh-headquartered carrier, now says it is “expecting to launch early next year” using ATR 72-600 twin-turboprops on undisclosed routes. “It’s taking time because we want to get it right from the very outset,” he adds.
Ecojet has applied to the UK Civil Aviation Authority for an air operator’s certificate (AOC), he says, with that process “going well”; details of its IATA designation and callsigns are expected shortly.
Smith defends the company’s initial launch plan, despite a schedule that always seemed highly challenging to meet.
“The information that we’ve shared previously was a reflection of where we were at the time and the projected timeline we were working to,” he says.
“Ecojet has been about four years in the making, it isn’t something that has simply been thrown together overnight.”
At this point in 2023, an operational start in early- or mid-2024 appeared achievable, he insists, but adds: “As we got there, there were a few things that we wanted to do more work on prior to launching.”
In contrast to other regional start-ups – he references the ill-fated effort to resurrect Flybe – Ecojet is “being built for long-term success”, he says.
“Everything for us is about sustainability – both environmental and in the business sense. The UK aviation market needs a stable, solid airline; it doesn’t need another operator that can’t provide reliable services at a fair price.
“We are building an airline that is fit for the future, a different airline than that which has come before, and we need to ensure we get the foundations correct, right from the start.”
However, Ecojet’s situation has been complicated by the recent departure of the chief operating officer Rebecca Borresen.
Recruited earlier this year, Borresen has now left for the position of safety and sustainability director at Scottish regional airline Loganair, where she is reunited with chief executive Luke Farajallah, her boss at previous employer Specialist Aviation Services.
Smith is full of praise for Borresen’s “fantastic work” during her time at Ecojet, describing her as “an excellent addition to the Loganair team” and dismisses suggestions that her departure is a reflection on Ecojet.
While admitting there are a “few hires that we still need to make… we’re in no rush to bring them into the business”, he adds.
The hiring strategy includes no immediate replacement for Borressen: “We will look to bring in a COO at some stage but it’s not a priority, the current set-up we have is working really nicely.”
Smith points out that the team so far assembled includes individuals with previous experience of responsibility for flight operations. As such “the traditional [director of flight operations] role hasn’t been a priority for us up until this point, but it will be soon”.
Having selected the ATR 72-600 as its launch aircraft, Ecojet is working with lessors to line up specific airframes for the operation. However, Smith points out there is little point incurring an expense before it needs to.
“When we’re ready to take them, we will. At the moment it’s a big, expensive jigsaw puzzle, ensuring that the aircraft are ready for service launch but not too early that we’re paying for them to sit on the ground for six months waiting for the AOC or business set-up to complete,” he says.
Smaller 19-seat De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters also remain in Ecojet’s business plan but will “added to the AOC after service launch, likely in year two”.
But crucial to Ecojet realising its ambition to be a zero-carbon airline is the future conversion of its fleet to use hydrogen fuel cell powertrains from ZeroAvia.
ZeroAvia is developing its ZA600 powertrain which would be suitable for the Twin Otter, although it is unclear how quickly it will be approved for that application; service entry aboard the Cessna Caravan is targeted for early 2026.
Ecojet is sourcing an undisclosed number of ZA600 engines through lessor Monte.
Meanwhile, the larger 2MW-class ZA2000 suitable for the ATR 72 will not arrive before 2028. Ecojet has ordered 22 of the engines, plus 40 options – enough for 31 aircraft in all.
Smith maintains that the airline is “still expecting to fly our first commercial flights with green hydrogen in 2026”, pointing to ZeroAvia’s accelerating development efforts: “The technology is here and it will be on the market before we know it.”
Ecojet has also moved into a new office near Edinburgh airport which has “enough space to accommodate our five-year growth plan” and contains training and meeting rooms.
There has also been a recent change in the company’s shareholding split.
Founded in 2021 as Fresh Airlines by Smith, Vince subsequently acquired 8,334 shares on 20 March 2023 – its name was changed two months later – for a “consideration of £120 per share”, or a little over £1 million ($1.3 million) in total, the company’s most recent accounts disclose.
At that point Smith held 23,000 shares and Vince 8,334, while a further tranche of 2,000 shares was held by AMG Ventures. That business is a subsidiary of Airline Management Group, a company founded by serial carrier chief Peter Davies, Ecojet’s third director.
However, the latest shareholding information shows Smith transferred 8,666 shares to Vince on 19 July, leaving the pair with 14,334 and 17,000 shares, respectively; AMG Ventures’ holding remains unchanged.
The unaudited accounts, for the period ended 31 August 2023, also show net assets of a little over £1 million.
Smith declines to comment on investment in the company, including the funding required to get the airline up and running.
Due to their abridged and historic nature, detail on the company’s up-to-date financial performance is light, but the accounts do note that on 31 December last year the carrier “entered into an agreement to purchase two engines with a total capital commitment of £1.8 million to be made within the next four years”.
