Ecojet accounts show continued spending but little progress towards operational launch
Environmentally conscious UK start-up Ecojet Airlines appears no closer to launch despite another year’s trading during which it continued to rack up liabilities.
However, the would-be carrier’s backers have promised to fund the business for at least another year, newly published financial documents show.
In addition, the airline appears to be interested in transplanting its zero-emission operating model elsewhere in the world, according to an article carried by a Sri Lankan news outlet.
Unveiled to great fanfare in 2023 with the promise of being the “flag carrier for Green Britain”, Ecojet was the brainchild of airline pilot Brent Smith, its chief executive, and clean energy entrepreneur Dale Vince.
It was supposed to begin services on the Edinburgh-Southampton route in early 2024, but this date was subsequently pushed back to this year.
Operations were to launch with conventionally-engined turboprop aircraft – ATR 72-600s and later De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters – which would eventually be converted to run on hydrogen powertrains from ZeroAvia.
However, with a little over four months of the year remaining, the chances of an operational launch in 2025 seem vanishingly small.
In the meantime, the company has continued to burn through its available funding.
Abbreviated accounts for the 12 months ended 31 August 2024 – approved by the board on 14 August this year – show net liabilities of £382,000 ($515,000) against net assets of almost £1 million a year earlier.
Addressing the ‘going concern’ implications of that liability, the accounts state that Ecojet “continues to be supported by related parties who provide funding for operations”.
“The operational funding support is expected to continue for a period of at least one year after the date of signing the financial statements,” the document says.
Evidence of that continued backing is detailed in the accounts, which disclose Vince’s Ecotricity Group received 17,000 shares in Ecojet in October 2024 – a post-balance sheet event – in return for an investment of a little over £1 million.
Ecojet had launched a funding round through Wyvern Partners in November 2024 seeking £20 million to satisfy UK regulatory requirements, although there is no mention of this in the financial statements.
Additionally, the accounts also reveal that Ecojet made 11 members of staff redundant in January this year. No reason for the lay-offs is disclosed, however.
Meanwhile, despite its failure so far launch to operations in the UK, Ecojet’s sights could already be turning towards Sri Lanka as possible future target.
Smith was interviewed by Sri Lankan business news outlet FT Daily on 11 August alongside Emmanuel Dubuisson, chief executive of French consultancy and hospitality specialist Valamka Group, and Ben Leon, a director of Aviation Management Group (AMG) – a shareholder in Ecojet.
Discussing the potential to revolutionise the island nation’s tourism and travel industry, Dubuisson says Valamka hopes to to bring its “partners” Ecojet and AMG into a collaboration with a Sri Lankan aviation company to “launch a zero-emission [airline] operation in the region”.
For his part, Smith provides no timeline for the start of any operation in the UK or Sri Lanka but reaffirms Ecojet’s commitment to “sustainability and future technologies”.
However, he suggests the carrier will adopt a hybrid operation to build “resilience” against market fluctuations.
This would see Ecojet will operate a “multiple revenue stream business model” – offering a mixture of cargo, corporate and private, and scheduled passenger flights – “to enable its assets to pivot to market fluctuations”.
