JetZero's new factory, executive orders & more (The Allplane Newsletter #190)
As the global aviation industry heads to Le Bourget for yet another edition of the biannual Paris Air Show, here are some of the latest most interesting stories in the field of aviation sustainability and innovation.
Advanced Air Mobility
Archer has raised an additional $850 million! It has done so through a share placement.
The US eVTOL firm has praised Trump’s new executive order for its role in attracting investors back to the advanced air mobility industry.
Vertical Aerospace is deepening ties with Bristow. The rotary-wing operator will palce and order for 50 VX4 and will also be service partner. This means that, through Bristow, Vertical will be able to offer a turn-key package, with all the necessary services to operate the VX4.
French eVTOL developer Ascendance Technologies has selected EXOES, a battery firm, also from France, as its partner to launch a hybrid propulsion pack called STERNA.
EHang has been demo’ing its EH-216S over the tea plantations of Yunnan. A very visual showcase of one of the main applications of this small eVTOL.
Horizon Aircraft has started to assemble the first unit of its X7 Cavorite eVTOL with a view to start flight tests towards 2027.
The Cavorite is one of the eVTOLs selected by Indian executive aviation firm JetSetGo to launch advanced air mobility services in Indian cities. You can listen to what the firm’s founder, Kanika Tekriwal, told us on the podcast a few months ago.
AIR is partnering with German engineering firm EDAG to make the structures for its AIR ONE eVTOL in, both, its manned and unmanned versions.
FlyNow has been conducting tethered flight tests. Quite cool to see the eCopter flying on video! Btw, to learn more about FlyNow, check out the podcast we did with one of its co-founders, Yvonne Winter.
Electric Aviation
If interested in electric aviation, you can’t miss this podcast episode with SiriNor CEO, Ivar Aune, where he explains in detail the revolutionary electric jet engine that his company is working on!
Dutch startup Elysian has got KLM and Transavia to collaborate in the development of the Elysian's E9X fully-electric 90-seater aircraft.
The two leading European electric seaplane startups have started flight tests with subscale models of their respective aircraft:
Elfly has conducted the first subscale model flight test of its NOEMI electric seaplane in Norway. You can check a video here.
JEKTA is also conducting subscale tests of its PHA-ZE 100 seaplane at an undisclosed location.
Nice to see more and more electric aviation initiatives springing up, including those that we could call “grassroots”, like this group of engineering students at Utah Valley University (UVU) that designed and built a fully electric airport tug and tested it at Provo Airport.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)
The EU will subsidise some of the SAF purchases by European airlines. Reuters mentions €6/l. for e-fuels and €0.5/l. for biofuels for a total of up to 100M liters. The idea is to provide a stimulus for faster SAF adoption.
Other sustainable aviation stories
Greensboro, North Carolina, has been revealed as the location of the future JetZero’s assembly plant, which is expected to create some 14,000 jobs locally. Woahh!
An interview with Air New Zealand’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Kiri Hannifin, outlining the main vectors for sustainable aviation development in the airline’s home country and also the status of its hybrid-electric pilot test programme.
What else in aviation?
Air India’s tragic B787 accident in Ahmedabad has, of course, been the most talked about aviation story this week.
There have been some other, more cheerful developments, though:
Air Asia may order up to 100 A220s at the Paris Air Show.
The Catalan government presented its €3.2B plan to expand Barcelona airport with a runway extension and a new satellite terminal which should bring the airport’s theoretical capacity to 70 million passengers per year (vs. the current 55M)
In addition to its recent executive order to boost American drone production, Trump signed also another executive order to repeal pieces of legislation that had been blocking the development of civilian supersonic aviation in the US. Boom Supersonic has, of course, welcome this measure that it had long been lobbying for.
Icelandic low-cost carrier PLAY continues with its strategic reorientation, away from the US and with a renewed focus on European leisure destinations and ACMI.
Suborbital flight startup Dawn Aerospace will set up a base in Oklahoma. The company is currently conducting supersonic flight tests with its Aurora Mk II aircraft in New Zealand.
There are two new flight reviews of ITA Airways amazing business class cabin on both the A330-900neo and the A321neo!
And the 2025 new airlines list has been updated with some additions!