Copenhagen, Denmark

Elfly Group and Nordic Seaplanes sign agreement for deployment of Noemi electric seaplanes

Elfly Group, developers of the all-electric seaplane programme ‘Noemi’, (No Emissions) has announced a new partnership with Denmark’s Nordic Seaplanes, which will see the dedicated seaplane operator become the world’s first ‘Noemi’ airline.

Nordic Seaplanes signed an MoU for five aircraft with an option for an additional ten Noemi amphibious aircraft on Tuesday (24th September) and agreed wider collaboration to explore new coastal markets beyond Scandinavia. The airline’s operations team will work closely with Elfly, sharing their experience of water operations flying De Havilland Twin Otter floatplanes since 2016. Expected order value is $150m to be delivered over the coming decade.

The agreement was confirmed and signed by Ole Christiansen, Chairman of the board and CEO of Nordic Seaplanes and Eric Lithun, CEO and founder of Elfly during its debut Nordic Horizons-Toward Future Flight event at Langelinie Pavilion, Copenhagen, attended by international industry peers and media.

“We have a very successful operation with our Twin Otters, but we are excited to embrace a future into 2030 that is electric,” said Ole Christensen. With Elfly’s Noemi in a 9 seat configuration, we are making an investment in clean technology, sustainability, which will assure our business well into the future, not just for Denmark but as we look to expand into other coastal markets too.”

“We are delighted to partner with Nordic Seaplanes,” said Elfly CEO Eric Lithun. “At the outset of our programme we said we would build and operate the aircraft, establishing our own AOC. However, collaborating with this well positioned European partner, with its wealth of operational experience here and overseas, makes a lot of sense. We can learn much from them about operating in a challenging environment and together we aim to tap seaplane markets beyond Scandinavia,” he said. The renaissance of the seaplane is coming.”

Lasse Rungholm, Nordic Seaplanes co founder welcomed the new collaboration, saying "This will secure our goal of no emission seaplane travel."

From The Maldives to Copenhagen

Nordic Seaplanes owners Lasse Rungholm and Lars Erik Nielsen are passionate about seaplanes. Lasse previously flew as a captain for Maldivian Air Taxi and Trans Maldivian Airways, which merged in 2013 to create the world’s largest seaplane operator, with a 65-strong Twin Otter fleet. Lars Erik was still the managing director of Trans Maldivian when the duo brought seaplanes to their home country eight years ago.

Nordic Seaplanes is Europe’s only scheduled airline flying floatplanes on scheduled services and charter. Its amphibian DHC6-300 Twin Otters have been operating between Copenhagen and Aarhus every weekday, a 45-minute connection between Denmark’s two biggest cities since 25 May, 2016. Since that time‚ demand has grown and Nordic Seaplanes’ schedule now supports up to 168 passengers per day on its main route.

The airline also offers sightseeing flights on daily basis, carrying up to 16 passengers. Nordic Seaplanes serves the harbours at Østhavnsvej 37, 8000 Aarhus C, Copenhagen and Nordre Toldbod 29, 1259 København K besides doing charter flights to anywhere with a decent size body of water.