Lots of SAF deals and milestones & much more (The Allplane Newsletter #141)
Picture: Electra
Electric Aviation
Big week for Electra.aero, the Virginia-based startup completed the first flight of its Goldfinch hybrid-electric demonstrator and got five orders firmed by the Bristow Group (out of a 50 aircraft pre-order).
Rolls-Royce intends to exit the electric propulsion business. Although it may make sense from the point of view of focusing on the core business of the company, this has raised some questions about the prospects of electric propulsion and particulary, of the Vertical Aerospace eVTOL project, which relies on Rolls-Royce for its engines.
How are batteries readied for shipment? here’s a short behind-the-scenes video by Catalan battery developer Bold, that is working with several (undisclosed) customers in aviation.
A Czech-made Bristell light aircraft flew 1h 13min powered by an electric H55 powertrain.
Advanced Air Mobility
EHang has received the world’s first type certification for an eVTOL, from the Chinese aviation authority!
Airbus presented an overview of its City Airbus advanced air mobility program.
Joby has produced a video showing how its air ride service in NYC, in partnership with Delta and Uber, may look like in the future.
Doroni Aerospace, a Miami-based startup developing an eVTOL for personal use, has received a special airworthiness certificate from the FAA, which will allow it to perform test and demo flights. Quite an eye-catching aircraft!
Hydrogen Aviation
ZeroAvia ZA600 hydrogen-electric powertrain will equip UK’s new “green airline”, EcoJet. Although they would need to be certified first (expected, provided all goes well, 2025). MONTE is going to be the lessor in this deal.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)
The SAF story of the week is, of course, that the Atlantic has been bridged for the first time by an airliner flying on 100% SAF (with Richard Branson onboard, btw)
And while this was a first for a commercial aircraft (and a big achievement for Virgin Atlantic and its partners in this project, Rolls-Royce and airBP, despite, despite some criticism), the story had an unexpected twist when Gulfstream became being first overall to fly across the Atlantic on 100% SAF, with one of its G600 completing the crossing between Savannah, Georgia, and Farnborough, in the UK, just a few days prior.
In between the Dubai Air Show and COP28, the UAE was also the setting of the Third Conference on Aviation Alternative Fuels (CAAF/3), where a major partnership was signed between several aviation and energy firms (including Emirates and Etihad as well as Masdar and the UAE national oil firm) plus Boeing and some government and research institutes with the goal to advance development and use of SAF.
Emirates completed the first SAF demonstration flight of an A380.
$75M investment into Power-to-Liquid SAF producer Infinium by Breakthrough Energy Catalyst. Some of this fuel, when it is in production, will go to American Airlines, which is a partner of Breakthrough.
For more context, here’s Infinium’s CEO, Robert Schuetzle, presenting the company with this video.
In any case, Sustainable Aero Lab depicted the state of SAF adoption across the airline industry.
Other sustainable aviation news
American Airlines has become the first customer of a carbon capture startup called Graphyte, which is backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures. AA will pay Graphyte to lock away 10,000 tons of carbon. The startup uses a process called Carbon Casting that prevents the release of carbon to the atmosphere from decaying biomass and locks it away as carbon blocks.
SAS introduced Eurobonus Conscious Traveler, this is basically a program to reward sustainability-oriented travel habits. Interestingly, from the start of December, the Scandinavian airline is no longer going to offer carbon offsets and will switch its focus towards stimulating the uptake of sustainable aviation fuel.
Groningen airport, in The Netherlands, has presented its vision of a green future.
What else in aviation?
Two interviews with the leaders of two interesting airlines that are growing quite a lot in their respective market niches:
And, yet another interesting interview, this one with the COO of an airline in the making, Riyadh Air’s Peter Bellew.
Nice visualization of the World’s largest airlines (by pax #) by the Visual Capitalist. Makes you realize how big the large US carriers really area and also, how big Ryanair is compared to all other low cost airlines!
IAG’s low cost long haul airline, Barcelona-based LEVEL, is going to get its own AOC and some more planes.
Interesting analysis of the Gulf’s three main carriers by David Hoar and, particularly, how Etihad fits in. READ.
It’s not every day that you see the three airBaltic “flag liveries” aligned. In this case, it was made on purpose to mark 20 years of the airline flying to Amsterdam Schiphol
Shout out to the colleagues at AirInsight and aeroTelegraph, that presented their aircraft deliveries tracker (I particularly like the squares visualization tool!)
Transavia presented the passenger cabin of its new A320neo.
In Canada, Porter Airlines is readying for further growth. The boutique airline is strengthening its partnership with Air Transat, firmed options for 25 Embraer E195 E2.
The first Toulouse-built A321neo is out of the assembly line and ready for delivery to Pegasus. A321neos were, until now, being built in Hamburg, China and Alabama but not in Toulouse. The closure of the A380 production line, though, provided an opportunity to retool the facility to make more of this fast-selling aircraft.
Lots of interesting stuff going on in the Uzbekistan air travel sector with two more airlines, Humo Air and Air Samarkand, preparing to take off very soon.