Hugues Duval flies one-seater electric plane from Calais to UK and back hours before Didier Esteyne’s journey in Airbus E-Fan aircraft

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A French pilot has made the first flight in an electric plane across the Channel just hours before a rival Airbus venture completed the journey.

Airbus immediately cried foul, claiming Hugues Duval’s effort should not be counted as the first official electric-powered flight because his Crici plane is believed to have been launched from another aircraft.

Duval flew from the French port of Calais to the English shoreline and back on Thursday night in the one-seat Crici plane. His 22-mile journey is considered a milestone in the attempt to make electric flights a viable form of travel.

Duval told the Associated Press that his successful flight was a relief and an important moment after years of developing the plane and flying it over land.

Solène Leroux (@solenelll) Vol historique ; traversée de la Manche avec un avion 100% électrique : Hugues Duval l'a fait, @ParisMatch était là. pic.twitter.com/utRmzEiMdX

Airbus’s electric plane successfully completed a flight from the UK to France on Friday morning.

The pilot, Didier Esteyne, flew a battery-powered two-seat Airbus E-Fan from Lydd, in Kent, to Calais. The journey took around 40 minutes.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pilot Didier Esteyne celebrates after landing the E-Fan electrically powered plane following his successful crossing of The Channel from Lydd Airport in Kent. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

Video footage showed Esteyne waving to spectators and airport crew after landing the plane. He told reporters: “[The flight] was almost perfect. Of course I feel good. We had to do it and we did it. The job is done now.”

Airbus applauded Duval for his attempt but downplayed the pilot’s claim to the cross-Channel record. Airbus spokesman Jeremy Greaves said: “We are not worried. It would not count because we understand he set off from another plane. We applaud the intrepid aviator that did this, although the actual details are yet to be confirmed.”

Esteyne declined to comment on Duval’s attempt, stating: “I don’t have to talk about that.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pilot and designer Didier Esteyne takes off from Lydd airport. Photograph: Luke Macgregor/Reuters

Jean Botti, the chief technical officer of Airbus Group, said: “I’m very happy; when I look at my team, I can only thank them.”



He said the flight brought to mind the Swiss solar-powered aircraft project Solar Impulse, “a fantastic human adventure”. He added: “I’m thinking of those two guys up in the sky and it’s the same thing for us. This was not a traditional industrial project, it was a shared project. We shared hours at the drawing board.”

Several companies in different countries have been trying to develop electric planes in the hope of offering fuel-, emissions- and noise-free flights in the future. So far, the planes have only made short test flights at air shows and airfields, but Airbus said it hope d Friday’s flight was a significant step towards creating a 90-seat electric or hybrid-powered plane by 2050.



Due to its lightness, the E-Fan is cheaper to operate than a normal plane. The electric aircraft, which is made of carbon fibre, costs £10 an hour to run compared with £35 for a similar-sized piston-engine, petrol-powered plane. It has a wingspan of 9.45 metres (31ft) and is two metres high, with a total engine power of 60kW. It operates on a 120-minute lithium battery system that needs only 90 minutes to recharge fully.

In 1909, the French pilot Louis Bleriot made aviation history by completing the first cross-Channel flight from Calais to Dover. Esteyne’s journey was made in the opposite direction of Bleriot’s crossing.

