Rolls-Royce CTO sees hybrid planes on regional routes by 2029

BRUSSELS, March 3 (Reuters) - Hybrid electric aeroplanes carrying around 100 people will be flying commercially by 2029, the chief technology officer of British aero-engines maker Rolls-Royce said at a conference on Tuesday.

The aviation industry is under pressure to decarbonise, but fully electric planes in the 150-200 passenger short-haul bracket are not expected to be flying before the 2030s.

Asked about hybrid electric aeroplanes, Rolls-Royce CTO Paul Stein told a conference he believed regional hybrid planes, usually said to carry about 100 people, could be flying before the end of the decade.

"I would hope, the latter part of this decade, we'd see revenue-carrying hybrid electric flight," Stein said. (Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Laurence Frost)