An Airbus electric plane has crossed the English Channel from Britain to France, claiming the record for the first such crossing, but the event was marred by controversy over the cancellation of a rival flight.

Test pilot and designer Didier Esteyne landed Airbus Group‘s E-Fan 1.0 plane in the French port of Calais on Friday after flying the 74 kilometers from Lydd in southeast England in 37 minutes, setting a “milestone for the all-electric aircraft technology,” the company said.

Airbus‘ all-electric E-Fan aircraft, a hit at the 2015 International Paris Air Show, is seen as paving the way for silent, zero-emission planes of the future.