Environmental responsibility is an important factor that is at the forefront of MAAS Aviation’s business strategy, an ethos shared by its progressive airline customer Widerøe.

Widerøe is the largest regional airline operating in the Nordic countries, and is committed to supporting a fossil-free technological transition in aviation. Their ambition is to become one of the world’s first airlines to be nearly emissions-free and they have set themselves the goal of having their first commercial fossil-free routes in operation by 2028.

In the meantime, Widerøe are taking steps to reduce emissions from their current flights with a number of initiatives, including transitioning their fleet to the latest paint system technologies. Working with MAAS, their high-performance aerospace coatings not only look superb but are now also delivering great environmental benefits.

The introduction of non-chromate pre-treatments, plus the latest primers and basecoat clearcoat systems, are in themselves more environmentally friendly products but they also deliver huge adhesion improvements. This means that Widerøe aircraft won’t need to be painted as often in the future, which is a positive step forward in the sustainability of their fleet.

These systems also reduce the weight of the paint on the aircraft as they require less coats to achieve the same result; just one coat for the newer basecoat clearcoat system compared to two or three coats for older systems. This not only reduces the amount of material used, but also reduces the overall weight of the aircraft. Both of these advantages contribute to more sustainable operations by lowering aircraft fuel consumption and thereby reducing CO² emissions, which makes the overall solution as lean as it can possibly be.