CAE Inc. plans to train future pilots in electric aircraft.

The Montreal-based flight simulator and training builder says it aims to convert two-thirds of its 200 Piper training aircraft fleet to battery-powered vehicles.

Hélène Gagnon, head of sustainable development at CAE, said in a phone interview that the company will be the first to operate aircraft that will use an electric motor and battery system.

Gagnon declined to specify a timeline for converting the four-seat Piper Archer aircraft, noting that it could be within five years, but technological and regulatory details need to be worked out.

The announcement comes at the same time as Piper Aircraft, based in Florida, at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK amid record heat in England, where discussions about greenhouse gas emissions and carbon neutrality monopolized attention among industry leaders at the event last held in 2018.