The Scottish Electric Aviation Network (SEAN) is bringing together a consortium of aviation, transport and infrastructure specialists to explore the future of all-electric regional aviation across Scotland’s Highlands and Islands.
Led by Bristow and supported by £1.5 million in funding through the Department for Transport’s Zero Emission Flight Demonstrator programme, Project SEAN will demonstrate the potential of electric aviation using BETA Technologies’ all-electric ALIA conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) aircraft.
The project will explore the potential for electric regional air services, including a proposed demonstrator route, alongside the development of the charging infrastructure and operational arrangements needed to support electric flight.
Bringing together expertise in airport operations, aircraft technology, aviation services, infrastructure development and demand modelling, the consortium will work collaboratively to gather real-world evidence and help establish the foundations for future electric aviation operations across the region.
Meet the SEAN consortium
HITRANS
The Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HITRANS) is the statutory regional transport partnership covering the Highlands & Islands, in Scotland. HITRANS covers Eilean Siar (Western Isles), Orkney, Highland, Moray and most of the Argyll and Bute area. Working with Councils, the Scottish Government, Transport Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, transport operators and other work with stakeholders to improve transport services and infrastructure in the north of Scotland and on routes to the Highlands and Islands. HITRANS own the SATE initiative.
Bristow
Bristow is a leading global provider of mission-critical aviation services, offering innovative and sustainable flight solutions, providing offshore energy transportation, search and rescue (SAR), and special mission aviation services to civil and government organizations worldwide. For more than 75 years, Bristow has delivered safe, reliable aviation services to customers operating in some of the world’s most demanding environments. By leveraging our global footprint and sharing expertise across regions, we deliver operational excellence, resilience, and consistent standards wherever our customers operate. As aviation evolves, Bristow is helping shape the future through Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) enabled SAR operations, Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) programs, and next-generation technologies that expand the possibilities of flight.
BETA Technologies
BETA Technologies is an electric aerospace company developing electric aircraft, electric propulsion, and multi-modal charging solutions to enable all-electric, zero-carbon, air operations.
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL)
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) is responsible for the management and operation of 11 regional airports serving some of the nation’s remotest communities: at Barra, Benbecula, Campbeltown, Dundee, Inverness, Islay, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Sumburgh, Tiree and Wick John O’Groats.
Skyports Infrastructure
Skyports Infrastructure is a global developer and operator of infrastructure for vertical flight. We identify, design, build, own and operate heliports and vertiports, providing the critical ground infrastructure needed for helicopter and advanced air mobility operations. Working with aircraft manufactures, operators, governments, regulators and other partners, we develop safe, efficient and scalable infrastructure networks that connect people and places.
EA Maven
EA Maven is a management consultancy firm focusing on solving the key challenges in the area of AAM through the provision of AAM strategy support, demand modelling, infrastructure design and due diligence services.
AeroTesseract is EA Maven’s integrated platform for market analysis, catchment intelligence, demand modelling, and scheduling that identifies where Regional and Urban Air Mobility are viable and transforms insights into actionable scenarios.
AeroTesseract™ unifies dynamic catchment analysis, market assessment, demand forecasting, scheduling, economics, energy and carbon into a single workflow. Define aircraft-specific catchments by drive time, average speed, minimum/maximum airport distance and bespoke constraints; generate custom indices for each airport or country system based on your own criteria. Start with quantified catchments and O/D flows; end with operator-ready schedules, fleet asks, revenues, energy requirements and CO₂ savings backed by auditable inputs.
