Universal Hydrogen first flight, Lufthansa suites & more (The Allplane Newsletter #117)
So, here is one more sustainable news digest!
And like every week or so, it comes with a raft of headline-making news…we have witnessed, for example, the first flight of Universal Hydrogen’s retrofitted Dash Q300 flying on hydrogen, how some of the world’s top eVTOL developers are getting ready to operate at the World Expo in Osaka in a couple of years an, in France, the city of Toulouse is about to get another aircraft factory, just not an Airbus one this time!
Oh, and did you see the new long haul cabins of Lufthansa and SWISS? They look pretty amazing.
Electric Aviation
NASA has awarded multi-million dollar grants to both GE Aviation ($179M) and magniX ($74.3M) to work on something called Electric Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD). The goal is to accelerate the development of electric propulstion technologies for commercial aviation. READ.
Here’s a paper reviewing thoroughly the current state and perspectives of battery technology for electric aviation. READ.
KinectAir will operate Electra.aero ESTOL aircraft. READ.
French startup AURA AERO has got the greenlight to build a new €150M factory in Toulouse to produce its INTEGRAL and ERA hybrid-electric aircraft. READ.
Electra’s Chief Product Officer, Marc Ausman, was a guest of the podcast (he was CEO of Airflow at the time, which then got acquired by Electra)! LISTEN.
Advanced Air Mobility
A handful of eVTOLs will be operating at the 2025 Osaka World Expo, among them Joby (in partnership with ANA), Volocopter and Vertical Aerospace’s VX4.
A thorough analysis of the current situation in the eVTOL industry. READ.
Hydrogen Aviation
Universal Hydrogen has had the first flight of its demonstrator, a Dash-8 300 turboprop specially modified to carry an hydrogen tank that, in turn, feeds a fuel cell that feeds an electric motor. This is also the largest hybrid-electric aircraft to fly to this date. READ.
And a reminder that we had Universal Hydrogen co-founder, Jason Chua, here on the podcast! LISTEN.
The other hydrogen star startup, ZeroAvia, signed a deal with Birmingham airport (the one in the UK, not in Alabama!) to develop H2 refuelling facilities there. Quite a few routes, domestic and to neighbouring Ireland, could be within the range and capacity that hydrogen-fuel cell aircraft will have, so, why not? The airport is planning to convert an abandoned terminal for this purpose. READ.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)
United Airlines is leading several industry partners in the creation of a $100M fund, called “United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund”, to invest fundamentally in SAF projects. READ.
SAF is also useful to decarbonize rotorcraft. Bell conducted the first flight of a single-engined helicopter with 100% SAF. READ.
Neste will also supply Wizz Air with SAF. READ.
Topsoe, a Danish company that produces different types of decarbonization technologies, such as catalyzers and electrolyzers, has joined forces with South African oil company Sasol to produce SAF. READ.
Great explanation (for non engineers) on SAF investor, about how SAF is made. Very interesting. READ. (h/t Patrick Edmond)
What else in aviation?
We tend to group together the so-called MEB3 (Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad) plus Turkish Airlines as global connectors. But are they that different? How do their networks compare? Here’s an interesting visual comparison by airline industry expert Oliver Ranson.
It doesn’t matter where you start your journey, flights to and from New Zealand tend to be long. This is why Air New Zealand keeps devising novel ways of seating, also in economy, such as the “economy stretch” product, that will offer some more space to those willing to pay NZ$175 extra. READ.
Norse Atlantic launched 4 new destinations in the US from London Gatwick (LGW). READ.
First time that two Boeing 787s go to scrap. READ.
Qantas presented its Project Sunrise premium cabin (the economic options will have to wait a bit). READ.
Lufthansa and SWISS have presented their new long haul cabins, covering all four classes (First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy). I was at the unveiling event in Berlin for the Lufthansa one, which is called Allegris and had the chance to test all of the new seats. Really impressive product! READ.
The German airline has also ordered 22 new long haul aircraft. READ.
Further consolidation in the Spanish market with the IAG (Iberia, Vueling) acquisition of Air Europa finally closing, for a total of €500M (of which €100 were already paid as a convertible loan). Will prices go up in Spain? READ.
If you read Russian (or just simply use Google Translate) here is a long interview on Forbes with S7 Airlines’ former CEO and scion of the Filev family, Tatyana Fileva. She explains how the airline has been muddling through covid and war. READ.
More additions to the list of airlines that have launched and airlines that have stopped operating this 2023.