How LUCY pioneers more sustainable flying

A life cycle analysis helps pioneers like Fly with Lucy gain insights into their CO₂ emissions.

Flying to London, Stuttgart or Paris by electronic plane? Climate tech start-up Fly with Lucy (LUCY) aims to offer passenger flights from regional airports on electronic planes as of 2026. It has the ambition to become a new player in the Dutch airline industry, specializing in sustainable and affordable flights within Europe.

We’re in the middle of a climate crisis. Burning fossil fuels such as kerosene into the atmosphere has been and continues to be a significant contributory factor. The main culprit in relative terms is the short-haul passenger flight industry, due to the inefficiencies involved in planes burning most of their fuel during take-off. Despite the climate crisis, one in every three flights departing Amsterdam Airport Schiphol covers a distance of less than 750 km. The top three routes for Dutch passengers are Amsterdam-London, Rotterdam-London and Amsterdam-Paris. Increasingly, these routes are flown by private jets. In 2022, there were no fewer than half a million private jet flights from European airports. If we ever want to achieve the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 2 °C, we’ll have to operate more sustainably – fast.

Thijs Bosgoed, Co-founder and Head of Partners & Network at LUCY: “Regulations limit the number of flights from airports, but not the level of emissions. By imposing a maximum on emissions, we can force airlines to become more sustainable. In the future, electronic planes will be a sustainable alternative for small-capacity, short-haul flights for distances up to 750 kilometers.”

Another advantage that electronic planes offer is that they’re less noisy. Jessica Lau, Head of Growth at LUCY: “Because electronic planes aren’t subject to the same noise restrictions as conventional ones, we can use them to cover a network of regional airports. There are twelve regional airports in the Netherlands alone, in addition to the nationally important ones. This means reduced waiting times for passengers and allows us to offer shorter, more direct flights. The result is lower operating costs and less dependence on conventional planes for short distances.”

Train, electronic plane or Boeing

One question that needed answering was how CO₂ emissions from electronic passenger planes compare to those from trains and kerosene-fueled planes. To that end, EY performed an indicative life cycle analysis (LCA), leaving out aspects such as time savings and the ‘business class experience’ for the time being. An LCA does not just calculate CO₂ emissions as a function of the energy consumed per passenger-kilometer (pkm), but also emissions resulting from raw material extraction; the construction of the plane or train and the landing strips or railways; the construction of the terminals; battery changes; and even tire wear. The decommissioning or reuse of the battery pack was left out for now.

From EY’s Amsterdam office to JP Morgan in London

A team of sustainability consultants at EY calculated the carbon footprint (CO₂-equivalent*) of the trip from EY’s Amsterdam office to JP Morgan’s London office. Flying by LUCY plane generates emissions of 26 kg CO₂-eq.[1] This is up to 50% less than the same flight on a conventional passenger plane. As for taking the trip by train, traveling from EY’s Amsterdam office to JP Morgan’s London office by train generates emissions of 24 kg CO₂-eq. The fast-track LCA therefore suggests that the emissions are roughly comparable.

Using the LCA to chart the course of innovation

Eelco Rietveld, Manager Climate Change & Sustainability Services at EY: “Even though electronic aviation is still in its infancy, emissions from electronic planes are already on a par with emissions generated by train travel. Still, there’s much fine-tuning to be done in the years ahead. The LCA is a key instrument in this regard, as it helps innovators like LUCY work out their ecological footprint and chart the course of innovation.”