Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Hybrid planes could be coming to Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport.

“Interestingly enough, the Capital Airport is, I think, the only airport statewide that has applied for a pilot program for hybrid airplanes,” Springfield Business Journal publisher Michelle Ownbey told the WTAX Morning Newswatch. “This is also being worked out by the engineers – probably the end of the decade before it becomes a reality.”

Ownbey makes it sound exciting. Hybrid aircraft are very much like the same concept as a hybrid car,” she said. They’re saying they would be able to provide multiple flights per day on legacy airlines like United, with service for up to thirty people at a time from Springfield to Chicago but instead of having to land at O’Hare or Midway they could land at designated spots like right downtown or close to wherever you’re going.

“They have a solar farm out there at Capital Airport, and airport director Mark Hanna) said that that is really giving them an advantage, because they already the extra power to draw on. They don’t anticipate having to add anything else, so he seems to think they are a good contender for this pilot program.”