Here’s another issue of the newsletter packed with aviation news and stories and, as usual, we start with the very frenetic activity in the sustainable aviation world:

Heart Aerospace has selected Aernnova, of Spain, to design and build the aerostructures for its future ES-19 all-electric regional airliner.

The Royal Air Force and Zero® Petroleum conducted the first flight ever powered 100% by synthetic aviation fuel. The Ikarus C42 microlight aircraft took off from Cotswolds airport, in England.

Emirates and GE are preparing to test-fly one of the airline’s B777-300ERs 100% on SAF before the end of next year.

LanzaJet announced its collaboration with Star Alliance in the roll out of sustainable aviation fuels. Interestingly, British Airways, the leading airline of rival Oneworld, is an investor in LanzaJet.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) has launched the “Book and Claim” programme, with its sights on the corporate ESG market. That is providing a reliable system for companies such as Microsoft, the programme’s launch user, to have their commitment to sustainable aviation fuel purchases accounted for. Air bp and United Airlines are also part of the scheme.

Airbus says the tests performed so far on aircraft flying on 100% sustainable aviation fuel have been satisfactory. Here’s some video footage of the testing programme, which involves an A350 aircraft being chased by a Falcon jet:

Some hydrogen-related stuff:

Airbus and the state of Singapore are teaming up to evaluate the development of a green hydrogen hub for aviation in the city. Here’s the Reuters story.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries is going to work on the development of hydrogen-powered aviation.

And eVTOLs:

New instalments of the series by Michael Barnard about the challenges of eVTOLs and Advanced Air Mobility, in general.

The author is very critical of many of the use cases that have been pitched (and hyped) to the public. He sees electric flight having a lot more potential in regional transportation, though. Food for thought! Read it here.
Also, from the same author, a rather bearish view on some of the recent stock market listings (via SPAC) and the real financial prospects of eVTOL companies.

In fact, the SPAC bonanza may be over in this sector. Volocopter just announced it is pulling out of its SPAC plans.

This view on eVTOLs contrasts with that of consulting firm McKinsey, much more bullish on their business case.

The process to get an eVTOL (or any other flying craft) certified and operational, explained in detail on Lilium’s blog

What else in “traditional” aviation?

Great images provided by Portuguese charter and ACMI carrier Hi-Fly, which landed an Airbus A340 on an ice runway on Antarctica.

A first for this type of aircraft!

A tornado swept through Barcelona airport…Here’s a video.

A Sukhoi Superjet SSJ100 that used be operated by airline Yakutia is on sale on Russian classified ads site Avito for 64M Rubles, that is a bit under $1M.

There is one big caveat, though, this aircraft was all but written off after a runway excursion in 2018 at the airport of Yakutsk, it hasn’t flown since and it seems that it was considered unfit to fly again.

At some point it seems that two different posts appeared on Avito offering this aircraft for sale, the other one posting a somehow higher sale price of 77M Rubles. According to this source (in Russian), the ad was posted by an auction house (the aircraft was transferred from the airline to an insurance company shortly after the incident that grounded it).

Are eVTOLs worth all the hype? This & much more in the Allplane Newsletter #68

Some hydrogen-related stuff:

And eVTOLs:

What else in “traditional” aviation?