Joby and Archer roll out plans & more (The Allplane Newsletter #159)
Electric Aviation
Electric aircraft continue to make (still small) inroads into the training market, one of the few segments with a viable use case given the so far the short range of batteries. The latest to go electric is airBaltic’s pilot academy, which has ordered 3 eDA40 from Diamond (in addition to two conventionally-powered DA42-VI) from the Chinese-owned Austrian manufacturer. READ.
This is a bit of an “exotic” sort of electric aircraft, but Japanese telecoms operator NTT DOCOMO and a consortium of other Japanese corporations are investing $100 million in AALTO, which is an Airbus subsidiary that is developing the solar-powered Zephyr, a high-altitude unmanned aircraft capable of relying communications signals (in a way similar to what satellites do). READ.
Advanced Air mobility
The 2024 Revolution.aero London conference took place in London with the participation of quite a few prominent players of the Advanced Air Mobility space.
One thing that was clear is that there are still more questions than answers. I particularly appreciated the chance to listen to several participants from the financial community that voiced some concerns about the over-optimistic assumptions that some eVTOL business cases have been built on.
For example, how will it be possible to offer rides for a cost roughly equivalent to an Uber Black service when in places like Manhattan the landing fees alone would account from anywhere between $40 and several $100s per person per trip?
Planning to write a more detailed post soon with some takeaways from the conference…
Meanwhile, Joby announced that the FAA has approved the use of the software platform it has developed in-house in order to manage its operations.
And, Archer has also presented some its plans to roll-out commercial service in the San Francisco Bay Area, connecting five points around the Bay. Archer also signed a deal with Signature Aviation to electrify 200 terminals across the US, including several major airports.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)
A guide to sustainable aviation fuel with a nice structure and lots of visual props, by Ben James. Recommended.
Brazilian LCC GOL has joined SkyNRG’s Project Runway, a book-and-claim SAF promotion initiative which aims to have corporations pool and share the costs of SAF uptake. READ.
Other interesting aviation stories
A new Lufthansa flight review, this time of the A320 economy class service.
Also, my review of the sleeping pods at Istanbul airport (yes, I slept a few hours in one of those!).
What next for Eastern European aviation? I went to Aviation-Event in Moldova to try to find out…
What to do with Dubai International (DXB) once all the activity moves to the Al-Maktoum airport? It looks like it is not yet totally clear, but there are quite a few interesting options…In the meantime you can also read my CNN piece about the future development of Dubai’s Al-Maktoum (DWC).
The 2024 airlines bankruptcy list has been updated.