The Junkers revival, Sweden scraps aviation taxes & more (The Allplane Newsletter #165)
There’s a new episode of the Podcast!
Nikita Ermoshkin, founder of Californian startup Airhart, shared his plans to make flying accessible to pretty much everyone.
Could, one day, flying airplanes become something akin to driving a car?
Advanced Air Mobility
Joby is already showcasing projects in the field of autonomy conducted by its recent acquisition, XWing. This time, is a US Air Force exercise in which a modified Cessna 208B Grand Caravan flew 3,900 miles autonomously.
A Chinese eVTOL startup called Zero Gravity has closed a 100 RMB Series A round ($14M approx.) China has a rich and dynamic eVTOL ecosystem that the rest of the world knows little about! This one doesn’t even have a website in English (or at least I couldn’t find it)
Looks like Swiss advanced air mobility developer Dufour has a production ready unmanned aircraft already. This one is for cargo only (with a payload of 40kg), the next one should be for passengers as well, particularly for emergency missions.
Dutch (literal) flying car maker PAL-V is drawing plans to build its future assembly line in the south of The Netherlands.
Hydrogen Aviation
H3 Dynamics will make the fuel cell powertrain for the hydrogen aircraft project sponsored by the EU’s Clean Aviation program. The initiative involves also eTextron and a number of other industrial and academic organizations from across Europe.
Airbus is promoting its ZEROe program. Not much new to report, actually, but they have released a nice video and an infograph showing the hydrogen ecosystem that is taking shape.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)
Another greatly informative post by IAG’s Aaron Robinson on the state of SAF uptake agreeements. Is there a gap between what the airlines promise and what is feasible considering the new capacity being planned, even if we take a long term perspective?
Malaysia has joined the list of countries with an aviation decarbonization strategy, as has South Korea, that wants all flights departing the country to use at least 1% SAF from 2027.
Other sustainable aviation stories
LTA’s airship is taking shape. Check out this amazing video they have released.
Sweden is scrapping its aviation tax! Now, this comes from unexpected quarters, since it is in Sweden where the environmental anti-aviation movement gathered strength a few years ago. READ.
Other interesting aviation stories
Air Serbia unveiled a beautiful livery. Unlike the previous two A330s, which featured Serbian characters, this one is about Belgrade’s Expo 2027 (an event, btw, that it is likely to have eVTOLs around!)
Btw, Wizz Air also presented a special livery!
All three Chinese major carriers are now C919 operators.
Aegean Airlines is investing in Volotea and taking a significant stake in the pan-European (Barcelona-based) regional low cost carrier.
Bye, bye, CSA, one of the world’s oldest airlines is about to be wound down.
The story of the Junkers revival or how a centenary aviation brand has been brought back to life. Btw, the person behind this project is none other than Dieter Morszeck, former owner and CEO of luggage brand RIMOWA (which sold to LVMH) and long-time Junkers enthusiast. I also covered his Junkers F13 reconstruction project for CNN.
Picture: WACO
