Planies, eVTOLs in Saudi Arabia, Antarctica & more (The Allplane Newsletter #106)
Sustainable Aviation News
Electric Aviation
VoltAero has closed a €32M Series B round by industrial partner TESI, an Italian firm that will also make the airframe for the Casio 330, the first cleansheet model of the French startup. LINK.
Icelandair wants to totally decarbonize its domestic operations. LINK.
Advanced Air Mobility
The last few days have been quite productive in Saudi Arabia for the two major German eVTOL players.
The first story has already a few days, but it came out when I had the previous newsletter already ready to go, so including it now: Saudia is ordering 100 Lilium eVTOLs. LINK.
Also, NEOM is investing $175 in Volocopter’s Series E round. In case you didn’t know, NEOM is one of the mega-projects currently underway in Saudi Arabia, which aim to transform the country into a tourism powerhouse. LINK. The whole series E is $182M and it includes some other investors.
Joby is pushing entry into service to 2025. Not a surprise: most people in the industry I have been talking to are saying many expected milestones in eVTOL development are not realistic. LINK.
Swiss company Dufour (which recently announced the establishment of a research and development center in Montréal) got an order for 40 (+100 options) units of its unmanned air vehicle from Spright, which is a US firm that specializes in medical air deliveries. LINK.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)
Project Speedbird, a venture to produce SAF in the UK by using organic residues, is moving ahead. British Airways, Lanzajet and Nova Pangaea Technologies, a British cleantech firm, are part of this project. The UK flag carrier is expected to take all the fuel produced at the facility when it is ready. LINK.
Hydrogen aviation
ZeroAvia will be collaborating with AGS Airports (the company that manages the airports at Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton) to develop the hydrogen infrastructure there. LINK.
Other interesting stories in sustainable aviation
Richard Aboulafia proposes paying more attention to turboprops as a ready alternative to limit the environmental footprint of regional airliner fleets. This is particularly relevant for the US, where most regional fleets are made of relatively old jets that will need replacement soon. Not ideal, but practical and immediate. LINK.
Air New Zealand is looking around for a zero emissions aircraft to replace its Q300 fleet. Wants to have a commercial demostrator flying by 2026. Too ambitious? LINK.
EmbraerX took part in Web Summit, the massive tech event that takes place in Lisbon. The aerospace industry is increasingly perceived as a segment of the broader tech/digital sector. LINK.
NASA is researching how to get rid of the sonic boom or, at least, mitigate it significantly. LINK.
What else in aviation?
I went to Riga, Latvia, to interview airBaltic’s CEO, Martin Gauss, and learn more about the present and future of the airline and its flagship digital project: the Planies NFTs. LINK.
I also took the opportunity to review airBaltic’s business class on the A220-300. LINK.
Scottish airline Loganair will link London City (LCY) to remote Orkney, which happens to be the UK’s sustainable aviation testing ground. LINK.
Finnair turned 99! LINK.
New article on The Points Guy about the fascinating world of the best jurisdictions to register an aircraft. LINK
Qantas has marked the 100th anniversary of its first service with a special flight that has followed that exact route. Two days through the outback of Queensland! LINK.
Air Asia has totally divested from its Indian venture, sold its shares to Air India, which is now owned by Tata, which was also a shareholder in Air Asia India as well as in Vistara, another Indian airline. LINK.
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is again and, like every year, moving its turboprop fleet to Antarctica for the (Southern) summer season. These aircraft have short legs and need multiple stops to get there. LINK.
The BAS actually operates one of the largest aircraft fleets in the frozen continent, but other countries and operators also fly there. For example, Portuguese charter carrier Hi-Fly flew again an A340-300 to Antarctica a few days ago, landing on a blue ice runway.
To learn more about the particularities of flying and managing aircraft fleets in Antarctica, check this piece I wrote for The Points Guy.