[bertil]

Trains are great in many cases, but there’s some limit to tunnels and bridges: you can go from Stockholm to Berlin directly, but Stockholm to Helsinki is harder (that’s actually the destination that the plane is likely to cover); Manchester to Amsterdam is feasible by train in theory, but given the constraints around London and the Channel Tunnel, unlikely to loose its flight connection. Same for Aberdeen to Oslo.

Many of those are over seas, so an ekranoplane would make sense, if you want to lower the energy output, but a tradition train won’t work for many cases.

[rjsw]

Manchester to Amsterdam is further than the distance targeted by these first electric aircraft, getting between a runway and a gate at Schiphol is probably beyond their range too.

[bertil]

I feel like you could handle Manchester to Lowestoft by train, then fly over the water The Hague and finish on a train.

Don’t get me started on the distances in Schipol: had too many race to catch tight connections at that airport…

[fogihujy]

Helsinki - Stockholm has too many travellers for a 19-seater. :)

Planes like this will most likely be used for routes from very small local airports to larger regional ones. I'd guess it's more likely to cover things like Rønne - Copenhagen, or Mariehamn - Helsinki.

[Robotbeat]

I wanted to love ekranoplanes, but although they have greater lift for a given span, they don’t have superior lift to drag ratios, which is what limits efficiency.

[bertil]

You could imagine a propulsion or even a lift mechanism closer to what is used for a hydrofoil. Modern sails or kites could improve the propulsion and handle the drag better.

I feel like we can make fast trains really worth it, but it makes the few connections I mentioned under-supported if you want to remain below a certain carbon footprint.

[hutzlibu]

"ekranoplane "

Can't they fly only over flat surface and very close to the ground?

That makes them quite unpractical in my opinion.

[bertil]

That certainly limits their universality, but you can imagine a network of fast trains when there’s ground and boats, or something faster on sea, when there’s none, to substitute to flying.

Ekranoplanes use the ground effect, which requires to be close to a flat surface, indeed, but the larger the place, the further you can be. Something the size of a 747 could be a couple dozen meters above the waves and fly smoothly above moderately rough sea.