Airbus electric plane flies across English Channel

An Airbus electric plane completed a flight across the English Channel on Friday even as there were reports that another person claimed to have accomplished the same feat before it from the opposite direction.

Piloted by Didier <g data-gr-id="19">Esteyne</g>, Airbus’s all-electric E-Fan plane took off from Lydd airport in Kent, England, and successfully landed in Calais 45 minutes later, completing a 33.1-km journey, The Telegraph reported.

It used batteries instead of conventional fuel to power its twin motors on the flight.

However, a French stunt pilot was reported to have beaten aeronautics giant Airbus to become the first person to cross the English Channel in an electric-powered plane.

On Thursday night, Hugues Duval, reportedly flew from Calais, France, to England and back in a tiny 

two-engine, one-seater Cri Cri plane, hours before Airbus’s completed flight of the E-Fan 2.0 prototype in the opposite direction.

Airbus cried foul, claiming Duval’s effort was not the first official electric-powered flight because his plane was launched from another aircraft.

“We applaud the intrepid aviator Hugues Duval for his flight in his Cri Cri,” an Airbus spokesperson said.