Paris Air Show 2023 Edition

It was Paris Air Show week, so pretty well packed with news and stories. Plus I got to be on the ground at Le Bourget, together with the AeroTime team.

Here you can find a show recap.

And glad to report that, in addition to the usual displays and airline orders, there was quite a lot of activity on the innovation side of things, with eVTOLs in particular capturing the attention (and the imagination!) of the public.

Many, but not all, of the stories that I have compiled next, happened within the framework of the air show.

Electric Aviation

Wright Electric has managed 1MW of shaft power in an electric engine it is testing, in what the company claims is the most advanced aviation electric motor. Btw, Wright’s founder, Jeff Engler, was a guest of the podcast some time ago.

Electra Aero is partnering with Safran to develop a turbogenerator for its hybrid-electric aircraft. A turbogenerator is composed of two connected elements: a gas turbine and an electric generator. READ.

This follows the announcement by Rolls-Royce that is developing and plans to start testing already this summer a similar engine, a small gas turbine for hybrid aircraft.

See the president of Rolls-Royce Electrical, Olaf Otto, explaining how this new gas turbine works.

Aura Aero is another company that had an incredibly intense air show, visit by French president Emmanuel Macron aside, the French startup made a whole raft of announcements:

It presented its all-electric Integral E 2-seater aircraft
Expanded its partnership with Safran in the development of the ERA aircraft.
A MoU with EDF (France’s largest electric provider) regarding the development of charging infrastructure at airports.
A deal with Airbus to train pilots in the Integral E aircraft
A deal with Alpine Air to certify the ERA regional aircraft in the US
Orders or letter of intent from Afrijet, Elit’Avia, and Asian Aerospace.

Advanced Air Mobility

eVTOLs were among the stars of the show.

Several prominent developers had aircraft or full scale mockups on display and I must say it was truly amazing to see them from up close or even jump onboard.

Lilium showed a six-seat mockup cabin

Volocopter was present both at the flight display and at the eVTOL exhibition area. It also confirmed its Paris Olympics roll out plans. READ.

Autoflight, another of the eVTOL developers with mockups at the show, also confirmed its intention to have an active presence in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, by the way!

Archer had an impressive mockup of its Midnight and Wisk’s CEO, Brian Yutko, gave a press briefing in which he showed as well a mockup of its aircraft and provided some insights of its work on autonomous flight: “there is not Plan B” (to autonomy), he said.

EVE announced three new suppliers: Japan’s Nidec Aerospace will provide the propulsion system, BAE Systems the energy storage system and DUC Hélice Propellers, the rotors. READ.

Embraer’s eVTOL developer also announced a number of deals, for example, with Wideroe Zero to operate 50 aircraft in Scandinavia. This is not just an aircraft order, but more like a partnership that includes a whole support package that includes services, software, evaluation of operations in very cold environments, etc. READ.

EVE signed also a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Nordic Aviation Capital for another 30 aircraft (15 orders + 15 options). READ.

And it expanded its partnership with helicopter operator BLADE in Europe. READ.

Hydrogen Aviation

ZeroAvia made a string of announcements at the show:

A 250-strong order from a new US airline, Cahana (which is the commercial brand of a Part 135 operator called Flyshare). READ.
The firming of a 100-strong order by leasing firm MONTE.
An agreement with Green Aerolease to use ZeroAvia’s powertrains in the French operator’s fleet. READ.
It also confirmed the positive results of the studies it has been conducting with Mitsubishi MHIRJ to evaluate the use of hydrogen-powered propulsion in regional jets. READ.
You can also watch a short video interview with ZeroAvia’s founder, Val Miftakhov here (he was also in the podcast a few weeks ago!)

Airbus is studying using hydrogen to power the aircraft’s auxiliary power unit (APU). READ.

Hamburg and Rotterdam airports want to set up a “hydrogen-corridor” between them. READ.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Synhelion, the Swiss e-fuels producer, is working on a project together with the University of Florida to optimize the thermochemical process for producing green hydrogen using solar heat. The US Department of Energy is funding the project to the tune of $2.7M. READ.

And also in the field of e-fuels, the Take Kair project gets together Air France, EDF, Holcim and other partners to produce synthetic fuels in France. A caveat, though, is that the electricity for this venture will, for the most part, come from nuclear, the form of energy production prevalent in France. READ.

Airbus and Lanzajet also announced their cooperation in the field of Alcohol-to-Jet fuels and accelerate the adoption of this technology. READ.

What else in aviation?

In terms of orders, Indigo set a new record by placing a 500 aircraft order with Airbus. This was, of course, not the only order, but here are two that caught my eye:

Cyprus Airways is transitioning to the Airbus A220. Quite interesting in an era of upgauging, that it goes for a smaller plane. READ.
Omani LCC Salam Air is getting A330neos, an interesting move because these are the first wide-body aircraft it gets (a similar move by Icelandic LCC WOW didn’t end well!). The carrier is also going to introduce a premium cabin. READ.

Boom Aerospace announced new suppliers for its supersonic Overture aircraft. Two of them are based in Spain, Aernnova (wing) and Aciturri (tail), the other from Italy, Leonardo, which will do the engineering integration of the fuselage. READ.

ATR had a press conference at the Paris Air Show, where it confirmed that demand is back and not only for replacements, but also for capacity increases. The European turboprop manufacturer is hiring more people. It is also preparing for the EVO project, the new generation aircraft that should fly by 2030, with results of first evaluations already positive. READ.

We got to see Riyadh Air’s new livery on a B787 from up close, as well:

The Allplane Newsletter #129 - Paris Air Show Edition