Lots of hydrogen, Condor's livery & more (The Allplane Newsletter #82)
New podcast episode
Zvi Schreiber, founder and CEO of Freightos explains how the air cargo supply chain works and why the air freight industry is still far from being fully digitized
New podcast episode: the world of air freight, with Zvi Schreiber (Freightos)
Sustainable Aviation News
Quite a few hydrogen-related stories this week:
Here’s Michael Barnard once more throwing some cold water at the news that HyPoint and Gloyer-Taylor Laboratories (GTL) are working on an enhanced hydrogen-based system for aviation, which would be based on the hydrogen-storage technology being developed by the latter. A reminder of the challenges that remain ahead for the aviation hydrogen economy. LINK.
The BBC has this interesting piece about the challenges of hydrogen propulsion and the historical background of this issue. Slightly more optimistic tone. LINK.
H2FLY has received €30M in funding from the German federal government for its"328H2-FC", which aims to develop a hydrogen fuel cell system based on the Dornier (now Deutsche Aircraft) 328 aircraft. LINK.
Hyundai is working on hydrogen fuel cell technology…for eSTOL aircraft. LINK.
ZeroAvia is teaming up with ZEV Station to develop hydrogen-charging infrastructure across California. The scope of this project goes beyond aviation, since the idea is that once you have a hydrogren distribution center at an airport, it can fuel other activities nearby too. LINK.
Elsewhere in the sustainable aviation industry:
Consultancy firm Roland Berger has mapped the some 300 (and counting) sustainable air mobility projects (including eVTOLs, eSTOLs, hydrogen and others) currently under development around the world. Very comprehensive. LINK.
Comprehensive round-up by Tony Harrington on Greenair of Australia’s sustainable aviation policies and projects, which involve, naturally, a large role for Qantas. LINK.
British startup Electric Aviation Group working together with Spirit Aerosystems (a major aerostructures maker) to develop a 90-seater hydrogen-powered aircraft? ummh…LINK
Carbon removal technology firm Climeworks has raised 600M Swiss Francs (some $640M) in funding. This is not aviation-specific, but Climeworks technology is used in some synthetic sustainable aviation fuel projects, so relevant for the industry, after all. LINK.
Lillium is already conducting testings in southern Spain, to where it relocated these activities from Germany recently. LINK.
And Dufour, a Swiss advanced air mobility startup so far focused on search-and-rescue use cases, is crossing the pond to open shop in Montréal. LINK.
United Airlines venture arm is investing in a startup in Texas which is developing new methods to make SAF. LINK.
SAFRAN will conduct the electrical architecture studies for the regional aircraft being developed by Toulouse-based AURA AERO’s (is it a thing now to spell company names in all caps?). We are seeing quite a lot established large aerospace corporations partnering with startups in this field, which I guess makes sense since the former get exposure to potential new areas of growth, while the latter get big names and the resources to back help them pull ahead in a field that is still full of uncertainties. LINK.
What else in aviation?
Condor, the German leisure airline, unveiled its new ground-breaking and totally eye-catching colourful stripped livery, part of a broader rebranding initiative. LINK.
Amadeus has acquired Kambr, a barely three years old airline pricing software startup. LINK.
American Airlines getting into the bus business as a way to feed regional connections? I wrote recently on The Points Guy about rail+plane connections, but in this case, the buses would be also airline-branded and tightly integrated with the airline operations. Interesting. LINK.
I published a new article on The Points Guy about the Celera 500L, an ultra-efficient aircraft concept being developed by California-based firm Otto Aviation. Interestingly, the amazing performance figures of the Celera 500L are down to the aerodynamics approach since it uses conventional well-proven technology for propulsion. LINK.