A380 running on SAF, Formula One & more... (The Allplane Newsletter #81)
Picture: Airbus
So, here’s our weekly aviation stories wrap-up!
This week there’s a new podcast episode available!
Albert Domínguez, product manager at SITA for Aircraft explains how the technology that allows us to track aircraft in flight has evolved and why it matters for safety and operational reasons. Check it out!
The Allplane Podcast #61 - flight monitoring with Albert Domínguez (SITA)
This is the third of our series about airline technology, done in partnership with SITA for Aircraft.
Sustainable Aviation News
First A380 flight test with an engine (one of the four) running on 100% sustainable aviation fuel. 27 tons of HEFA-produced SAF were provided by Total. LINK.
Airbus also published this infographic about the status of its different SAF tests:
Picture: Airbus
British Airways has received the first delivery of sustainable aviation fuel from Phillips 66. The energy company is producing SAF at its Humberside refinery, in the north of England. This is one of BA’s several SAF procurement initiatives. LINK.
A very critical, bearish, take on Lillium and the prospects of this eVTOL maker to fulfill its performance promises. LINK.
Large Malaysian order for Chinese eVTOL maker eHang. LINK.
Skyports raised an additional $23M to develop vertiports. LINK.
One of the major unknowns about the development of a urban air mobility industry is the regulatory side. Under which conditions will cities allow eVTOLs to operate? Well, EASA has just published the world’s first specifications for vertiports. “EASA’s ambition is to provide our stakeholders with the ‘gold standard’ when it comes to safe vertiport design and operational frameworks.”. LINK.
Bye Aerospace has selected Crane Aerospace & Electronics to provide its new high voltage DC-DC converters for its electric planes. LINK.
Avolon has placed the remaining 50 Vertical Aerospace V4 eVTOLs out of its 500-strong mega-order. This time is Gözen Holding, of Turkey (a conglomerate that already owns charter airline Freebrid Airlines), which will assumedly use them in Istanbul. Here is a world map of all of Avolon’s VX4 placements.
Global allocation of Avolon’s VX4 eVTOL fleet. Picture: Avolon
What else in aviation?
Icelandic airline software company Dohop has raised a new funding round for an undisclosed “multi-million euro” amount from Scottish Equity Partners, bringing the total raised so far to nearly €20M. Dohop creates software that helps different operators, including non-aligned low cost carriers, sell combined tickets, an ever increasing necessity as travellers become more savvy at organizing their own trips by looking at the whole range of options available. LINK.
I published a new article on The Points Guy about the relation between aviation and Formula One in which I explain the agreements that some of the F1 teams and the motor sport organisation have with several air operators. Check it out!
Updates to the 2022 list of new airlines. LINK.