Telling apart hype from reality in sustainable aviation & much more (The Allplane Newsletter #107)
There’s a new Podcast Episode!
Michael Barnard is a renewable energy expert and author (writing about decarbonization technologies for Cleantechnica and other publications). Although his work is not exclusively focused on aviation, he’s been paying lots of attention to the sustainable aviation industry lately and has some pretty bold predictions to share as well as a truly critical assessment of some of the hottest themes right now in this industry. Check out this week’s podcast for a straightforward talk that is guaranteed to leave no one indifferent. LISTEN.
Sustainable Aviation News
Electric Aviation
Eviation has received a letter of intent from the Northern Territory Air Services for 20 units of its Alice electric aircraft. This operator services communities as well as the tourism industry in the sparsely populated far north of Australia. LINK.
Advanced Air Mobility
Archer and United Airlines have announced the prospective first regular eVTOL route, between Newark airport and New York City. This should be in 2025, which is a pretty ambitious time-frame. LINK.
The first passenger terminal at a vertiport in Europe has been inaugurated, for testing purposes, at Paris’ advnaced air mobility research hub at Pontoise airport. The plan is to start offering commercial flights in 2024 (on time for the Paris Olympics?). The only type of eVTOL so far authorized to perform tests there is Volocopter’s Volocity. LINK.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)
Leasing firm Avolon has partnered with Boeing, ORIX Aviation, SFS Ireland and SkyNRG to research the potential production of SAF in Ireland. LINK.
Looks like Honeywell has come up with a new process to produce ethanol-to-jet SAF. LINK (there will be soon an Allplane podcast episode about this topic with one of the leaders of the industry, btw!)
Swedish airline Braathens and car maker Volvo are launching the first commercial air route in the world that gets to use a 50% SAF blend (the upper limit most commercial aircraft are currently certified for). The route between Goteborg (Sweden) and Lyon (France) will operate twice weekly to serve the needs of Volvo staff. LINK.
Other interesting stories in sustainable aviation
Ryanair is going to invest €200M to retrofit its entire B737NG fleet with split scimitar winglets. This measure will save 510 tons of carbon per aircraft per year! LINK.
What else in aviation?
Richard Aboulafia has a new piece, this time on Forbes, criticizing Boeing’s decision not to launch a new aircraft until, at least, the mid-2030s. He is worried about the future of the American plane maker. LINK.
Things moving fast, the new Saudi carrier, RIA, may have its debut before the end of this year. LINK.
Picture: Boeing