Heart of the South West LEP and East Devon District Council: Electric aircraft as a catalyst for economic growth

Regional Airline Flybe was headquartered at Exeter Airport. In early March 2020 the company collapsed into administration resulting in around 1,000 jobs losses locally.  This was followed later that month by the first national lockdown. Prior to the COIVD-19 pandemic the Exeter Airport had contributed £162.4 million annually to the local economy with 2,700 jobs (direct and indirect) and served just over 1 million passengers annually. The site had a significant Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) engineering facility and was home to a training academy that was operated by Flybe, which trained 651 pilots, 873 cabin crew and 120 apprentices per annum.

There was further risk to the county as the Airport supported an important eco-system with significant assets and institutions including the Met Office, Exeter University’s Centre for Future Clean Mobility and further afield in Somerset the iAero Innovation Centre.

There was also the need to support the aviation sector, so that it could embrace decarbonisation and ensure businesses throughout the South West were fit for current and future purpose. Enabling businesses to sustain their current operations, while growing these important assets within the South West and improving business competitiveness.

Another challenge which needed to be overcome, was the loss of the vital role that the airport services played as an important regional connector to other parts of the UK and further afield. With the South West hampered by a rural transport system with relatively undeveloped infrastructure and a relatively peripheral geography.

We recognised that there was an opportunity to use the Airport in a new and exciting way, while supporting local businesses and making the region a trailblazer for new forms of transport. With this is mind we approached Ampaire, a US hybrid electric aircraft developer, who we were aware were reviewing potential sites for setting up a UK base. We encouraged the Company to submit a proposal to the Innovate UK Future Flight programme and helped them to source SW Companies and Organisations to join both the Consortia delivering the project and the Advisory Board supporting the project.

Exeter Airport joined the Team to enable them to trial the infrastructure that would be required for testing and flying the aircraft. It was considered that this could be the first important step in supporting the airport to decarbonise its operations.

When Flybe had collapsed Devon County Council had bought the former Flybe Training Academy at Exeter Airport for £4m to transform it into the Future Skills Centre which was leased to Exeter College. This meant that there was also a training facility to support the development of qualified staff, as and when required.

Ampaire's Future Flight 2Zero Project has enabled regional partnerships to come together from across the South West of England to demonstrate capability and leadership in effectively planning, developing and delivering what the sector will require to thrive. The intention is that this will lead to Devon & Somerset becoming a key region at the forefront of enabling the aviation industry to decarbonise.

This key leadership role was confirmed when the Department of Investment and Trade selected the region as a High Potential Opportunity for this sector and produced a suite of marketing documents aimed at overseas investors.

Recognising the economic and societal transformational potential of the sector a Sustainable Aviation Board was created, comprised of key stakeholders and partners from Industry, academia, and the public sector to build upon and expand on the opportunities the sector could offer. This board includes external organisations, such as Connected Places Catapult and Innovate UK, who have recognised the potential of the sector and are keen to learn with us and develop these opportunities to support the sector to grow at speed.

The 2Zero project was funded from Future Flight Phase 2 and focused on developing and testing the electric aircraft within the UK regulatory framework. It researched and tested the airport infrastructure requirements and with partners University of Nottingham modelled the viability of electric flights versus other forms of transport. A further project was submitted by Ampaire to Phase 3 of FF which would have designed and tested a larger plane and potentially led to commercialisation in terms of retro-fitting existing turbo-prop aircraft. Unfortunately, the project was not successful. However, the impact of the first project to the area in terms of understanding what it can offer to other novel aircraft technologies is significant.

The findings from the FF Phase 2 funding have led to the Sustainable Aviation Board commissioning research from Frazer Nash Consultants. This research will focus on understanding how we can position our key assets and current infrastructure to establish a Future Aviation Test Zone (FATZ). The next step will see us look to establish a test zone and we are currently applying to the Regulators Pioneer Fund for funding to enable us to do this once the research has been completed.

• Key partners need to collaborate to support a key sector to transition to net zero
• The need to think on a wider regional geography.
• The complexity of securing funding to enable long term planning for new sustainable sectors to have the funding to develop as required.

On the following website are a number of materials including a video which you can use: Aerospace & Aviation - Heart of the south west LEP (heartofswlep.co.uk)