Electric Plane to Ship Cargo Between Kyushu Cities in Trial Run, in Hopes of a Greener Delivery Industry

The Yomiuri Shimbun

21:00 JST, January 27, 2025

KITAKYUSHU — An electric aircraft will ship cargo between airports in Kyushu this summer in a trial run, with the aim of commercializing the technology as early as next year.

Sojitz Corp., Yamato Holdings Co., Kitakyushu’s city government and U.S. startup Beta Technologies Inc., which provides the aircraft, signed an agreement on the project on Jan. 20. The trial will be the first time an electric aircraft transports cargo in Japan, according to Sojitz. The goal is to help decarbonize the shipping industry.

The electric aircraft is 12 meters long and 15 meters wide, and has 50%-70% fewer parts than a normal small aircraft, according to Sojitz and others. It can carry more than 560 kilograms of cargo on board, and can fly more than 400 kilometers on a single charge. It does not take off vertically like a drone, but rather must launch from a runway that is more than a kilometer long.

The trial will be conducted with permission from the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, and during the tests, the aircraft will make one round trip between Kitakyushu Airport and Miyazaki Airport, about 280 kilometers apart, taking 1½ to 2 hours each way, to verify operating procedures.

“We want to proceed with verification that will lead to widespread adoption,” said Masakazu Hashimoto, chief operating officer in Sojitz’s Aerospace, Transportation and Infrastructure Division, at a press conference in Kitakyushu.

Shawn Hall, executive officer at Beta Technologies, expressed hope that in the future, next-generation aircraft will be used to transport cargo to a variety of locations, not just between cities.