Big airline mergers, Australian flights & more (The Allplane Newsletter #85)
There we go, another week packed with interesting aviation news!
Sustainable Aviation News
Advanced Air Mobility
Quite a good round up on the WSJ about how some of the main challenges eVTOLs face are on the ground rather than in the air. LINK.
MAGicALL is going to power Airbus’ eVTOL, will supply the motors of the CityAirbus NextGen. LINK.
Perhaps we will soon see some of these CityAirbuses in Germany soon? The European manufacturer has launched an initiative with numerous German partners to test advanced air mobility systems in that country. LINK.
EVE is preparing to test AAM in Rio de Janeiro and it has now unveiled a Concept of Operations (CONOPS) plan, drafted with 11 other players in this ecosystem. LINK.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel
Neste to supply United Airlines with SAF at Amsterdam Schiphol airport. The US airline will be able to buy up to 52.5M gallons of sustainable aviation fuel from the Finnish firm over the next 3 years. LINK.
Hydrogen
Shell will be building some of the key hydrogen refuelling infrastructure for ZeroAvia at its test site in California. LINK.
Aviation H2 to test liquid ammonia on a Falcon 50 aircraft. LINK.
Other interesting stuff
SATAVIA’s contrail avoiding technology can generate carbon credits and Air Carbon Exchange (ACX) is ready to help them trade them. Interesting tangible and monetizable benefit of efficiency-driving tech. LINK.
Hawaiian Airlines is investing in REGENT, the startup developing an Ekranoplan-like ground effect vehicle (a mix between boat and plane). Interestingly, the aim is to develop a craft with a capacity of 100, which is a lot! Here is the announcement and here is the piece I wrote for CNN about REGENT’s project.
What else in aviation?
The first edition of the Future Aviation Forum took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This was a massive event in which Saudi authorities and businesses showcased their ambitious plans to develop aviation and tourism in the kingdom. Will be writing an in depth report shortly. LINK.
Published a few more articles on The Points Guy:
Where are the Ukrainian airliners? what has happened to the Ukrainian commercial aircraft fleet since the war started? LINK.
Which airlines fly to the most destinations? Check it out. LINK
Airlines, blockchain and crypto. What’s going on in this sphere? LINK.
Major news in Latin America with the merger of Avianca, Viva and GOL to create the Abra Group. Apparently the different brands will continue to operate separately although it is expected some elements will be managed at group level. Sounds like a sort of Latin American IAG. The new group will have nearly 300 aircraft and carry some 40M passengers per year. The Colombian newspaper La Republica has published a thorough assessment of what this means for the markets in the region. It’s in Spanish, but it comes with some nice infographics that don’t really need translating. LINK.
Qantas’ Project Sunrise is a go, with 12 A350s tasked with linking Australia to Europe and NYC nonstop. Additionally, Qantas is also getting other shorter range aircraft to renew its fleet. LINK.
While we wait for Project Sunrise to materialize, Qantas is to fly one of its B787s nonstop between Barcelona and Darwin and then on to Sydney. This is, of course, not a new regular route, but a charter to take FC Barcelona to play some games in Australia. LINK.
Vueling is to sell flights and stuff on the metaverse. Claims it is the first airline to do so. LINK.
Yet another startup, this one at Y Combinator, Exosonic, having a go at commercial supersonic flight. It has raised $4M with this goal in mind and completed its first Conceptual Design Review. LINK.
First glimpses of the Airbus A321XLR. Video.
ITA Airways (aka the new Alitalia) has received its first A350. While we don’t know yet whether the new airline will be able to redress the financial issues that had plagued Alitalia throughout its history, the new aircraft’s colour scheme certainly looks great!
Picture: Airbus