Electric flight bookings, solar fuels for aviation & more (The Allplane Newsletter #111)
Sustainable aviation news
Electric Aviation
Air New Zealand seems to mimic the general approach of the industry of diversifying its bets when it comes to the next generation of sustainable aircraft. So, it has announced that is going to work with four different green aircraft projects (which use different propulsion technologies) to evaluate which aircraft will replace its domestic Q300 turboprop fleet.
The four selected Mission Next Gen partners are Eviation, VoltAero, Beta Technologies and Cranfield Aerospace.The target of 2026 entry into service sounds rather ambitious, though. LINK.
Avio Aero, a subsidiary of GE Aviation based in northern Italy, has presented the AMBER programme to develop a hybrid-electric power plant. The EU’s Clean Aviaiton Joint undertaking is funding this project with €34M. LINK.
If Embraer presented, a few days ago, its Energia vision for a family of electrci and hybrid-electric aircraft, now it’s a Chinese airline, Ruili Airlines, based in Kunming, that has joined the Energia Advisory Board.
I must confess the Chinese aviation scene remains a bit of Terra Incognita to me, but getting a foothold in such a large market must be certainly important for Embraer’s ambitions in the electric aviation space. LINK.
You can now book an electric flight on a Pipistrel Velis based at Schänis Airport, in Switzerland. Prices starting at 199 CHF (about $210) and you will get an electric flight pioneer certificate! LINK.
Btw, not far from there, electric transportation evangelist Morell Westermann (who was one of the first guests of the podcast!) is planning a record breaking electric flight for the AERO Friedrichshafen event.
This will consist in launching the largest number ever of electric aircraft at the same time and flying together between St. Gallen Altenrhein (on the Swiss-Austrian border) and across Lake Konstanz to Friedrichshafen, Germany. Here is the promo video:
Advanced Air Mobility
Joby ploughing ahead in its path to certification. LINK.
Hydrogen Aviation
Universal Hydrogen’s first flight may be imminent. LINK.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)
Synhelion has closed a funding round of 22M CHF among several prominent investors, including the airline SWISS, which were already supporting its synthetic fuels project in some way. This capital injection will allow the Switzerland-based startup to scale up its solar fuel production. LINK.
For more on Synhelion, check out the podcast we did quite some time ago!
Reuters story explaining how corporate demand is driving the SAF market. LINK.
Virgin Atlantic aims to fly a Boeing 787 between London and JFK on a test flight powered only on sustainable aviation fuel. The airline will also invest in carbon removal projects to offset the 30% of emissions that SAF can’t remove. So, this should make it the first Net Zero transatlantic flight. LINK.
Not clear to me whether are there going to be any regular passengers on this flight (I guess not), which will be partly funded by the UK government. I guess also that, as a test flight, it has received some sort of waiver to get around the current 50% limitation on SAF use.
Other interesting stories in sustainable aviation
The EU has approved a new set of rules to further the decarbonize of the aviation sector. In short: no more free EU ETS allowances for flights within the EEA bloc from 2026 and more support for SAF adoption. The new piece of legislation has been criticized by both environmentalists and the aviation industry for applying laxer standards on extra-European flights. LINK.
German aircraft manufacturer Deutsche Aircraft has got two new investors onboard the Do328eco project, to develop a version of this regional turboprop model with a reduced carbon footprint. The new investors are OHB SE, a German aerospace company, and AFK Enterprise AG, a Swiss family office. LINK.
What else in aviation?
Huge United Airlines order for Boeing, including 100 Dreamliners. LINK.
AirHelp has released its airline service ranking. Unlike other such rankings, my guess is that since AirHelp is a service that helps passengers process flight disruption claims (I can say they once helped me get compensation for a seriously delayed flight) this is actually based on real data that this firm sees. RANKING.
SWISS will get 5 A350-900s in 2024. These aircraft will come from a previous outstanding order that Lufthansa placed with the European manufacturer. LINK.
Boom Supersonic said they found a new partner to make the engines for its prospective supersonic airliner. Skepticism remains in the industry about their chances of success, though. LINK.
Royal Jordanian has entered its sixth decade. A good reason to admire this picture that shows a Caravelle next to a Boeing 787. LINK.
