Stories about JetZero, Electra and more (The Allplane Newsletter #182)
New episode of the podcast
Marc Allen, CEO of American hybrid-electric aircraft developer Electra, and Tomislav Lang, founder of new generation on-demand regional airline Flyvbird, have been on the podcast sharing their views about the importance for sustainable aviation startups, to focus on realistic projects that can deliver tons of value if implemented correctly.
Electric aviation
The story of Eviation’s collapse, explained in detail and with insider sources, on the always well informed Seattle Times (the company is based in Washington state).
REGENT has completed its first test of a full-scale seaglider prototype with passengers onboard, which is really exciting, and, of course, the firm’s social media channels were buzzing with footage. Even Elon Musk commented on it. We had the pleasure to have REGENT’s founder Billy Thalheimer on the podcast not long ago!
Norwegian startup SiriNor has found an investor in India to continue funding its development of electric jet engines.
Advanced Air Mobility
Volocopter is stopping all operations. Will it be saved? Some rumors that Chinese-owned, Austrian-based Diamond Aircraft may be interested…
In the meantime, and judging by the financials it posted, it seems that Joby has fuel in the tank (pun intended!) to keep going for quite some time.
BETA Technologies is sending its second CX300 eCTOL aircraft to Norway, where it will operate flight tests between Bergen and Stavanger for Bristow Norway. The tests will be done in collaboration with airport operator Avinor, that is now looking to install electric charging infrastructure and these two airports. It turns out, another CX300 completed, as well, a transcontinental flight in the US, between New York State and California, with several stopovers along the way.
Doroni, the Florida-based developer of personal eVTOLs, has raised $30M in Saudi Arabia, as I explained in this piece about the recent Aerospace Connect Forum, which took place in Jeddah, in late February.
Austrian eVTOL developer Flynow signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with an unnamed logistics operator in Saudi Arabia to sell 50 cargo eCopters. The eCopter is quite an interesting concept, fully electric, not too big and flying along pre-programmed routes. I could see one of them from up close at the Aerospace Connect Forum in Jeddah.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)
Twelve, a US firm that captures carbon and transforms it into other products, like SAF, has raised an additional $83 million in a Series C round.
Future Energy Global has worked with Jackson Square Aviation, a large aircraft lessor, to retire SAF Scope 3 credits. This is, of course, not the main part of the emissions in this business, but it has been presented as a signal to the rest of the industry that major players in the leasing sector are committed to work in this direction.
Other sustainable aviation stories
JetZero and Delta Airlines will cooperate to define the airliner of the future. This is quite an endorsement for JetZero’s Blended-Wing-Body (BWB) concept, coming, as it does, from one of the world’s largest airlines!
And, more JetZero news, because the startup has also signed a deal with RTX to source some key systems - the engine and APU among them! - for the future BWB demonstrator
United Sustainable Flight Fund has invested in Heirloom, a direct air carbon capture company. To learn more about United Airlines’ Sustainable Flight Fund, check out the pod episode we did with its managing director, Mukul Hariharan.
Vueling has selected the winners of its NextGen Aviation Challenge. The two winners are a company that makes recyclable RFID tags for luggage, PulpaTronics, and another one, Asteroid Technologies, which makes software to facilitate conversations between airlines and passengers with some communication barrier.
A bearish, must-read piece on sustainable aviation on the WSJ by Jon Sindreu, who was also a guest of the podcast recently.
Which aviation technologies are more hype than substance and the other way around? Do not miss this great and well fundamented take by the friends at the Lufthansa Innovation Hub!
What else in aviation?
I have posted two new flights reports:
Which airlines have skin in the game when it comes to investing in new promising technologies? Lufthansa Innovation Hub has also published an interesting report about this.
IndiGo is preparing its grand European debut. Manchester and Amsterdam are the first western European destinations (it served Istanbul already, which is, in fact, in Europe too!)
And Lufthansa subsidiary Discover Airlines is also expanding its long haul operation with a whole new programme of flights out of Munich.
Strong financial and operational performance by Turkish Airlines, which presented its 2024 results.
And, also in Turkey, I spoke with SunExpress CEO, Dr. Max Kownatzki, during the carrier’s 35th anniversary event. He outlined some interesting points about the future of the airline and its expected growth.
JetBlue is refreshing its New York JFK terminal (T5), one more piece in the comprehensive refurbishment of the whole airport system of NYC. For more on this, check what Charles Everett, Director of Aviation at the Port Authority of NY & NJ, told us not long ago when he was on the podcast.