Electrical drive system for an aircraft and operating method

An electrical drive system for an aircraft, comprising:

• at least one first and one second electrical direct voltage source for supplying a direct voltage,
• a first electrical machine module and a second electrical machine module, the electrical machine modules being configured to convert electrical alternating voltage into mechanical movement and/or to convert mechanical movement into electrical alternating voltage, the first electrical machine module being connected to a first power inverter and the second electrical machine module being connected to a second power inverter, the first and second power inverters being connected in series and the first and the second direct voltage sources being connected in series to generate an overall direct voltage to which the series-connected power inverters are connected, the power inverters each having one voltage measuring device for measuring the power inverter direct voltage present at the respective power inverter and a power inverter control device for controlling the operation of the power inverters in accordance with the power inverter direct voltage, a compensating line being provided between a voltage source center tap between the first and second voltage sources and a power inverter center tap between the first and second power inverters, and the first and second power inverter control devices being connected to each other communicatively by a communication device to exchange at least one piece of information about the measured power inverter direct voltages in real time;
• and
• a compensating current measuring device for measuring the compensating current flowing through the compensating line, wherein a piece of information about the measured compensating current is configured to be transmitted via the communication device to at least one of the power inverter control devices.