EasyJet wants to use electric planes within a decade

LONDON – Budget airline easyJet will collaborate with an American company to develop a battery-powered plane it can use within a decade.

The airline says it's partnering with Wright Electric, which is developing a plane that will fly for under two hours, cutting emissions and noise.

The airline's CEO, Carolyn McCall, says "it is now more a matter of when, not if, a short-haul electric plane will fly."

Wright Electric is working with several airlines and believes its planes will be 50 percent quieter and 10 percent cheaper for airlines to buy and operate.

Jeffrey Engler, Wright Electric co-founder, compared the idea to the late-President John F. Kennedy's declaration that he wanted to put a man on the moon.

Engler says "setting a big goal allows people to try to reach it."