Farnborough 2024 and much more (The Allplane Newsletter #162)
There is a new episode of the podcast!
Wall Street Journal columnist Jon Sindreu joins us to talk about some of the key issues currently making headlines in the aviation industry, such as the future of the Boeing-Airbus duopoly, the increasing concentration in the European airline sector or the efforts to decarbonize aviation!
This was published just ahead of the Farnborough Air Show, but the conversation touches upon many long-standing issues of the industry.
Sustainable Aviation News
Quite a few things have happened since the last newsletter.
This was not unexpected, since the 2024 Farnborough Air Show was used by many of the players in the field of green aviation and advanced air mobility to make major announcements. Here is a compilation of those that caught our eye:
Electric Aviation
Interesting mid-sized electric aircraft concept (with kerosene-turbine range extender) by German aerospace research center DLR (h/t Patrick Edmond for this one!). The aircraft in question is called EXACT and is optimized to cover 500km journeys at speeds of 750 km/h. Check it out.
Safran will supply the electric propulsion system for Boeing’s X-66 experimental aircraft, which is going to act as a testbank for a whole raft of environmental flight technologies. READ.
Jekta has signed a deal for 14 of its still-under-development electric seaplanes with Seaplane Asia, for operations mostly in Thailand (btw, here’s the podcast we did with George Alafinov, founder of Jekta).
H55 has closed a $65M Series C funding round which will allow the Swiss startup to advance towards the certification of its battery pack (to learn more about H55 check out this podcast we did with its founder, André Borschberg).
Dovetail showcased its hybrid-electric powerplant in Spain. You can watch the video here.
Advanced Air Mobility
Two eVTOL developers had their, let’s say, “tangible” debut at Farnborough, showcasing their respective aircraft: Hyundai’s Supernal presented its SA-2 and Embraer’s EVE, after some online teasers, showcased its first eVTOL prototype.
Picture: EVE
Vertical Aerospace presented the latest iteration of its prototype and successfully completed its first piloted tethered flight.
Picture: Vertical Aerospace
There is a vibrant eVTOL scene in China that it is not that well known outside of that country. One of its startups, Volant Aviation, has just secured a nearly $14M investment round from a Chinese venture capital firm called Legend Capital in order to continue developing a family of 3 eVTOL aircraft. READ.
BETA Technologies continues with the test and evaluation program with the US military (through the AFWERX program). This time, it successfully demonstrated the use of the ALIA aircraft in several real military logistics scenarios over the course of several days. READ.
A conversation with the CEO of German eVTOL developer ERC System, which targets the emergency services market. READ.
Lilium has confirmed a 100-aircraft order from Saudia. Not exactly a surprise, since it had been widely anticipated, but this is another (powerful) endorsement for the German eVTOL developer, which had recently been looking to expand its financial runway with additional funding.
An Archer Midnight made of LEGO.
Hydrogen Aviation
And, if seaplane developer Jekta is most commonly associated to electric aviation, the Swiss-based startup also announced, at Farnborough, that it is partnering with ZeroAvia to develop a hydrogen fuel-cell version of its PHA-ZE-100 seaplane.
ZeroAvia has also reported that has developed a novel AI-drive software to optimize the use of electricity for hydrogen production. This system is, reportedly, able to reduce costs by 20% over average energy costs. READ.
Btw, more ZeroAvia news, because the startup received fresh investment from Japan’s ITOCHU Corporation.
A number of electric aviation companies are also looking at hydrogen as an option to extend the range of their aircraft, as we have also seen recently with Joby, which, as already covered in a previous issue of the newsletter, announced a record-setting 523-mile eVTOL hydrogen-powered flight.
Before you get too excited, though, here are some back of the envelope calculations about the efficiency and perspectives of hydrogen-powered eVTOLs.
Avolon is partnering with Airbus to explore the financial opportunities of the ZEROe program. The leasing firm was already a pioneer in the field of advanced air mobility, placing a massive order for hundreds of Vertical Aerospace eVTOLs back in the day.
London Gatwick (LGW) has joined Airbus’ hydrogen-friendly airports initiative, which aims to gather a handful of airports aiming to become testbanks for hydrogen aviation. READ.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)
EASA has set up a SAF clearing house to support European producers. READ.
SAF Monitor tracking SAF production projects. Great Resource.
Other sustainable aviation stories
UK’s air traffic control company, NATS, will use a sophisticated air traffic management software called Demand Capacity Balancer to optimize operations for carbon emissions (instead as for punctuality only as is the case now), hoping to reduce carbon emissions by 30,000 tons per year this way.
Data Blanket, the latest startup of Omer Bar-Yohay (previously at Eviation and AutoFlight and a guest of the podcast), has been selected to take part in the XPrize competition. Data Blanket uses autonomous drones to fight wildfires.
Other interesting aviation stories
An exclusive Executive Spotlight interview with Oman Air’s new CEO, Con Korfiatis, outlining his view for the future of this interesting flag carrier right as the Sultanate of Oman ramps up its efforts to position itself as a prime tourist destination.
For Airbus and Boeing orders at Farnborough, I recommend checking this list put together by my colleagues at AeroTime.
Mallard Enterprises, an American seaplane startup that I had the chance to learn about at the Venice seaplane conference earlier this year, is getting quite a lot of attention in India. Mallard Enterprises has signed Letters of Intent (LoI) with Mehair and FlyJet for 50 and 3 ME-1A Amphibious Aircraft, respectively.
Etihad is the new sponsor of Catalan football side Girona FC, which plays in Spain’s first division. The new shirt looks quite neat!
A new airline, Air Haifa, is about to launch in Israel.
Argentina is liberalizing its airline industry further, with the aim of attracting investment and boosting the development of regional aviation in the country. READ.
Long Beach airport (LGB) has released a series of vintage-style posters celebrating the history of aviation. Long Beach is one of the airports I featured in my piece for The Points Guy about historical airports.