The Norwegian government has approved an $8 million grant to support Elfly Group’s plans to develop an all-electric seaplane. The support was announced by Enova SF, the country’s Ministry of Climate and Environment, on August 30 and takes the start-up’s soft funding tally to $10 million, which has been matched by early investors. 

According to Elfly CEO Eric Lithun, the government funding will allow the company to step up work on the Noemi fixed-wing aircraft at its headquarters at Jarlsberg in southern Norway. The program is also backed by technical support from Norway’s SINTEF Innovation Research Foundation and is aiming to be ready for a passenger-carrying aircraft to enter commercial service in 2030.