So, what’s new in sustainable aviation:

Let’s start by having a look at several recent announcements involving future operators of sustainable flying technologies…

American Airlines has committed to “science based targets” for greenhouse gas emissions reducitons. What does science-based mean in this context? It is defined by a Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a framework that involves the following organisations: CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), so American is committing to abide by their guidelines. In the meantime, AA, which, like other major airlines, had already committed to the 2050 net zero emissions goal, is purchasing 10M gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (from Prometheus Fuels).

Check the full announcement here.

Surf Air is ordering 150 hybrid-electric Cessna Grand Caravans from Textron. This is a temptative order (subject to Surf Air being able to finance it). Let’s remember that Surf Air recently acquired Ampaire as well, one of the players in the hybrid electric space.

Also in the hybrid-electric world, VoltAero has got some more news. Right after announcing the location of its future production facilities in France, it announced a deal with fractional aviation operator KinectAir, a US-based startup that aims to crack the (so far challenging) fly-on-demand market

I’ve corrected an earlier version of this post that referred to KinectAir as Canadian, some of you made me note there is a Vancouver south of the border in Washington state, so my bad! I used to be good at geography, but obviously didn’t check properly this, so presenting my apologies! (the email version, unfortunately couldn’t be fixed)

Air France KLM Martinair, the air freight arm of Air France/KLM has launched a sustainable aviation fuel programme for freight forwarders

A look at sustainable aviation in Great Britain:

Her Majesty’s Government has launched a consultation for the net zero aviation policy within the 2050 time-frame. The consultation is running until 8 Sept. Check it out here.

And the British government has also announced the 8 projects shortlisted as part of the Green Fuels, Green Skies (GFGS) competition. The are going to share £15M in grants between them in order to roll out SAF production facilities in the UK. You can find out who the winners are here.

Interesting read about how a veteran (1960s!) airframe, the Britten-Norman Islander is playing a key role in sustainable aviation research within the framework of the UK’s Project Fresson

And let’s not forget the research and development front!

NASA is going to work with Electra.aero to develop the technology necessary for ultra-short take-offs and landings…as short as 150 feet

Rolls-Royce is investing £80M ($110M approx) in battery technology for eVTOL and small aircraft (up to 19 seats)

Deutsche Aircraft is partnering with Universal Hydrogen to evaluate the feasibility of fitting its Do328eco aircraft with the hydrogen-capsule technology being developed by the Californian startup (check out the podcast we did with one of Universal Hydrogen co-founders, Jason Chua)

Joby Aviation shows you the different stages and manoeuvres involved in a flight, check it out here.

Also Joby announced also it has flown a full scale model of its eVTOL over a distance of 150 miles in what might have been the longest flight for an aircraft of this type to date.

WHAT ELSE HAS HAPPENED IN THE AVIATION WORLD?

Airbus has delivered the first A350 to come out of its Tianjin, China, assembly line

It’s MAKS air show time in Moscow, like every other year. I could not attend this time, but, in case you missed it, here is my CNN piece about the 2019 edition. I guess the atmosphere and display haven’t changed much…

And one of the interesting announcements at MAKS is that Russian regional airline Azimuth, which until now was the only Superjet-only operator in the World, is getting 6 Airbus A220-300.

Interesting experiment by Finnair’s distribution team: the Finnish flag carrier is using the launch of new long-haul leisure routes from Stockholm, Sweden, to conduct a sort of A/B test (although not exactly on same destinations). Stockholm to Miami is going to be distributed via intermediaries, while Helsinki to Thailand only through Finnair.com. So far, booking seem to be on a par, but the experiment is ongoing…

Singapore Airlines has spun off an e-commerce arm, called Pelago. Quite a few airlines keen to brand themselves as digital businesses…

A much overdue update of the 2021 new airlines list!

No holidays for sustainable aviation! (Allplane Newsletter #57)