Electric tow aircraft, SAF investments & a Finnair stamp (The Allplane Newsletter #124)
Sustainable Aviation News
Electric Aviation
Here’s a concept that I find really original and disruptive:
Magpie Aviation unveiled its aircraft towing technology, which aims to fix the problem of the lack of density in aircraft batteries. Basically, a passenger or cargo aircraft would hook up on another battery-carrying aircraft mid-flight (through a system similar to that of air-to-air refuelling). The tractor aircraft would then pull the other one to its destination. Sounds crazy but they have actually conducted some successful tests already (and, as a personal note, I met Magpie’s founders at a recent event and they sounded very confident in that this will work). READ.
Northvolt’s subsidiary Cuberg (whose founder was here on our podcast!) is pushing forward with its Lithium-Metal battery research programme for aviation applications. READ.
Chinese researchers have, reportedly, developed a 711 Wh/kg battery (to put things in context, all Li-Ion batteries currently in the market are below the 400 Wh/kg mark). This one is still experimental apparently, but it’s got some electric mobility enthusiasts excited! READ.
Hydrogen Aviation
GKN is making progress with its development of a liquid hydrogen propulsion system. The goal is to power a 96-seater aircraft. READ.
H2FLY (a German hydrogen startup owned by Joby Aviation, has successfully tested, on the ground, the coupling of liquid hydrogen storage with a fuel cell system. READ.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)
Norwegian is investing in Norsk e-Fuel, a company aiming to produce synthetic fuels in Northern Norway. Although technically a startup, Norsk e-Fuel has some prominent backers from the sustainable energy industry. READ.
Wizz Air is investing £5 million in Firefly, a British firm that aims to produce SAF with sewage sludge (if successful, this project will have the added benefit of eliminating another unwanted waste product). The agreement would see the low cost carrier taking 500,000 tons of SAF produced by Firefly over a period of 15 years (for context, it is estimated that the 57 million tons of sewage sludge produced annually in the UK have the potential to yield 250,000 tons of SAF. READ.
British carrier Jet2 is also investing in a SAF production project, in this case Fulcrum’s in northern England, which will use household waste as feedstock. READ.
Is the process to produce SAF from discarded plastics carcinogenic? Here’s a worrying report. READ.
The EU has reached a deal to move forward with the ReFuel initiative that will see the progressive introduction of SAF mandates in Europe, starting with 2% in 2025 and rising to 70% by 2050. READ.
A report by Hamburg Aviation calls for much more widespread and immediate use of the HEFA system to produce SAF from waste oils and other organic material. While it has its limitations (including a somehow constrained feedstock availability), this is one of the fastest pathways to get emissions reductions with proven technology. READ.
Other sustainable aviation news
Great visual summary by François Chopard (yup, also on the podcast!) of the investments of Starburst in the aviation innovation space. READ.
Boeing is expanding its ecoDemonstrator programme with the so-called “Explorer planes”, which will test specific technologies in real case situations. For example, in June, a Boeing 787-10 will depart the US for a tour of four Asian nations, with the goal of testing several navigation technologies along the way. This aircraft complements Boeing’s existing ecoDemonstrator, a B777-200ER. Unlike the B777, though, which is fitted with 19 innovative technologies, these “Explorer” planes will focus on testing one specific technology approach at a time. READ.
What else in aviation?
Finland has issued a stamp to mark Finnair’s 100th anniversary, which will take place later this year. Quite cute and a good excuse to update soon this old piece about aviation-themed postal stamps.
French aircraft seat producer Expliseat closed a €17M funding round to, among other things, built a new factory in Western France capable of producing 25,000 aircraft seats per year. READ.
Interesting strategic analysis by Will Horton of several Asian airlines with long-haul operations. READ.
ANA provided more details about its new Pokemon-liveried Dreamliner. READ.
Iberia’s acquisition of Air Europa is not yet a deal done. READ.