A busy week for green flying & much more (Allplane Newsletter #56)
It’s been a busy, busy week in the sustainable aviation world and add to that the fact that I am sending this newsletter a few days later than usual, so today’s edition is a bit longer than the previous ones. Which I guess is a good sign, since all sort of things are happening in the green aviation space!
So, what’s new in sustainable aviation:
First and foremost, the EU has published its long awaited policy objectives for decarbonization, the so-called “Fit for 55” Package (btw, we need to talk about this name!) can be consulted here. This is quite a comprehensive initiative that goes well beyond aviation.
What it means for the sustainable fuel and airline industries? Here’s an interesting summary twitter thread
One thing looks clear: SAF production capacity will have to be ramped up significantly and, indeed, the EU acknowledges the fact that over 100 new SAF plants will need to be built in Europe to meet this goals.
There have been quite a few other very relevant announcements too, involving a whole range of different technologies and industry actors:
Heart Aerospace has announced a conditional order for 100 of its, still under development, ES-19 battery-powered electric 19-seater airliner, with United’s partner Mesa Airlines adding ordering another 100. United Airlines Ventures will also invest in the Swedish startup. This is quite a massive endorsement from one of the World’s largest airlines (previously Heart Aerospace had got pre-orders from Finnair)
(check out this podcast I did with Maria Fiskerud, of the Nordic Electric Aviation Network, where we talk extensively about Heart Aerospace)
Another major deal announced this week, although concerning a different type of propulsion technology: Universal Hydrogen is partnering with Icelandair, Ravn (an Alaskan regional carrier that has come back from the brink) and Spanish regional airline Air Nostrum (an airline active in other sustainable aviation projects) to bring to fruition its “Nespresso-like” system of hydrogen capsules to power regional aircraft. Check out this exciting story here.
To learn more about Universal Hydrogen, check out the podcast we did with one of its co-founders, Jason Chua, earlier this year.
In the world of Sustainable Aviation Fuel, Boeing and SkyNRG (one of the major players in the SAF space) have partnered to roll out SAF production on America’s West Coast. Alaska Airlines seems to be the airline partner in this project. Netherlands-based SkyNRG is creating a US subsidiary, SkyNRG America, in order to establish a solid bridgehead on the other side of the Atlantic.
Canada, in turn, is going to support Pratt & Whitney and De Havilland Canada, in a project to fit a Dash-8-100 turboprop, which will serve as a test bank, with hybrid-electric propulsion (the electric motor will be made by Collins Aerospace), bringing about a 30% reduction in fuel burn. Flight testing should start in 2024.
Also in Canada, Airbus is getting involved in the SAF+ Consortium, which gathers organisations such as Air Transat, Hydro-Quebec, Aéroports de Montréal, the Polytechnique Montréal and Aéro Montréal, in order to produce sustainable aviation fuel at a plant near Montreal, Quebec, using the power-to-liquid process, that captures CO2 from large emitters and synthetises it through a process that involves the addition of (green) hydrogen. Air Transat is expected to be the user of the SAF produced this way. Apparently it may start production as early as this year. You can read more about this project here.
Yet another airline eyeing the transition to electric, BRA, a Swedish regional airline that has just emerged from a truly difficult period (to the point we included it in our airlines that stopped flying completely) has a revealed its intention to fly electric between Stockholm and the Swedish island of Gotland as soon as technology allows, aiming for 2026. No specific aircraft model is mentioned in the original press note (in Swedish), but Heart Aerospace comes to mind…
VoltAero, the French hybrid-electric startup has concluded its aerial “Tour de France” with a Cassio 1 demonstrator aircraft and has also announced the location of its future assembly plant on France’s Atlantic coast (where the next family of aircraft, the Cassio 330, 480 and 600 are going to be built)
Joby Aviation, JetBlue and Signature (a Florida-based FBO) have partnered to generate and use carbon credits based on the (future) completion of electric and hydrogen-powered flights. The details in the announcement are a bit sketchy, but it seems that if you fly on, let’s say Joby electric craft (that is, in the future, when they become operational), this would count as an offset of conventional fuel-powered flying on JetBlue. Looking forward to learn more about this programme…
Hamburg airport is going to see extensive testing of hydrogen technology, the exercise will focus on experimenting with ground processes for handling hydrogen and will involve the use of an stationary A320 aircraft. This is a project funded by the regional government of the Hanseatic City of Hamburg and several German aerospace entities will take part in it, such as DLR, the Center for Applied Aeronautical Research (ZAL), Lufthansa Technnik and the airport itself.
Hydrogen is also the technology of choice for Germany’s Deutsche Aircraft, which has partnered with H2FLY, a German startup making hydrogen fuel cell systems, to develop hydrogen-fed fuel cell propulsion for the Do328eco regional airliner. If all goes according to plan, the first demo flight should take place in 2025.
Decarbonization is usually the focus of attention when it comes to sustainable aviation, but there are other aspects, such as noise that have an impact too. This is the reason scientists at the University of Bath's Materials and Structures Center (MAST) have been working on an interesting lightweight material capable of significantly lowering aircraft engine noise.
And now some recent moves in the field of Sustainable Aviation Fuel:
Swiss has become the first airline to use SAF on regular flights from Switzerland. More importantly, it has set up the logistics to keep feeding successive operations with SAF. Apparently this had been prevented by customs regulations that have now been amended. The first 460 tones received this way will power up to 175 flights. On this particular occasion the flight was powered by fuel provided by Finnish company Neste, but Swiss is also a partner of the Swiss-based Synhelion synthetic fuel project, which we talked about on our podcast.
Bill Gates has written about sustainable aviation fuels! In this note he explains how its Breakthrough Catalyst Programme aims to invest in projects that, given enough time and cumulative investment, will lower the cost of green technologies (the so called “green premium” differential with dirties technologies being currently mass produced)
Looks like progress in SAF so far will be made one deal at at time, although I guess on aggregate and over time these deals will ultimately be significant. This time is Delta signing an agreement with a major corporate travel operator to purchase 300,000 gallons of SAF. How much is that in carbon removal terms? the equivalent of the carbon sequestered. by 256 acres of US forests apparently.
Last but not least, a great piece by Jon Sindreu, aviation columnist at the WSJ, with an overview of the different strategic choices made by US and European aircraft manufacturers when it comes to investing in the decarbonisation of flight (paywalled but I think WSJ lets you read it without registering as long as you are remain under a certain threshold of number of articles read per month).
WHAT ELSE HAS HAPPENED IN THE AVIATION WORLD?
Airbus started the assembly of the first Airbus A321XLR. If you wish to learn more about this production process, read this.
So, Richard Branson went finally to space onboard the Virgin Galactic spacecraft! Quite a few pics and footage of the charismatic billionaire up in orbit
AirAsia is pursuing its strategy of becoming a digital business with an airline attached. It now plans to list the digital part of the business in the US (via SPAC) in order to keep funding its growth.
Finnair is launching long haul flights from Stockholm, across the Baltic in neighbouring Sweden. Check out how the experience to fly Finnair long haul is like, on business & in economy class.
The EU is going open skies with three countries in its periphery: Ukraine, Armenia and Tunisia. Of these, Ukraine is a particularly big one and one that has got the attention of European low cost airlines in recent years.
In case you have some cash to spare, Malaysia Airlines is putting 6 Airbus A380s up for sale. You can submit your bids here!
A few more airlines stopped operating, they have been added to the 2021 airlines bankruptcy list!