Executive aviation going electric & much more (The Allplane Newsletter #73)
This week on Allplane, in addition to our regular recap of aviation stories, we have a new episode of the podcast!
Vishal Hiremath, founder of JetClub and Jet It, shares his entrepreneurial journey building an executive aviation business and his plans to go soon electric, by becoming the launch customer for the Bye eFlyer 800 aircraft
Sustainable Aviation News
France’s 1% SAF mandate has come into force on Jan 1. The idea is to increase it progressively, to 2% in 2025 and 5% in 2030.
In connection with this, Air France-KLM is adding a SAF surcharge of between €1 and €12 (depending on the type and category of flight), effective from 10 Jan.
Also, Neste is expanding its reach in France through a partnership with Exxon, in order to be able to supply its Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel to all major airports in the country. Read the story here.
And, although not legally bound to do so yet, KLM will be adding 0.5% of SAF to all flight departing from Amsterdam Schiphol (this will supplement the amounts voluntarily purchased by some of its customers). Read about it here.
Easyjet is partnering with Cranfield Aerospace Solutions (which is linked to the UK universit of the same name) in the development of hydrogen fuel cells for aviation. Cranfield Aerospace Solutions is working with Britten Norman and other partners in Project Fresson, to fit this propulsion technology in a 9-seat aircraft.
Easyjet has also been active in the field of electric propulsion through its collaboration with Wright Electric, an American startup whose founder was very recently on the podcast! Listen to it here.
A good summary of the differences between eSTOL and eVTOL and the different use cases, published on AirFlow’s site. To be clear, AirFlow is developing an eSTOL, nevertheless, some of these points have been voiced by other analysts such as Michael Barnard in this very interesting series of articles on Cleantechnica.
Regional aircraft leasing company Falko could potentially order some 200 of EVE’s eVTOLs for placement among its global network of customers. Worth noting that Falko is also a direct investor in another electrically-powered aircraft project, although pursuing a different concept and technology, UK-based Electric Aviation Group.
Savbak, a Swedish helicopter trading business, will distribute Dufour’s tilt-wing eVTOLs in Scandinavia. Read the story here. Swiss-based Dufour has the search and rescue market as one of its priorities.
Not leaving Scandinavia just yet, because Swedavia, the company that operates most Swedish airports, is tweaking its pricing policies to make biodiesel more attractive to companies operating vehicles at its airports. Land vehicles are the low hanging fruit when it comes to making airport operations more sustainable. Read the story here.
How do the different leading eVTOL concepts compare? Bloomberg has put together this nice infograph-style summary.
ZeroAvia is opening a new development center at Paine Field, near Seattle, with support of the local county authorities. Link.
Some more pictures of Eviation’s Alice have emerged. See them here.
Experts at DLR, Germany’s main aerospace research institute, discuss prospects for hydrogen-powered aviation. Read it here.
Qatar Airways has been the first airline to make an Aviation Carbon Exchange trade via IATA’s Clearing House (ICH). Greenair News has the full story.
What else in aviation?
Airbus delivered the first ACJ TwoTwenty, that is, the executive version of its A220 airliner. The aircraft was delivered to Comlux, a super high end executive aviation operator, in order to get its cabin fitted before it starts operating for the ultimate owner, the Dubai-based FIVE hospitality and travel group.
Two ACJ TwoTwenties are also included in the 22-strong A220 (the remaining 20 being standard commercial ones) order that leasing company Azorra has placed with Airbus.
Azorra was in the news just a few days ago because it signed a letter of intent with Embraer’s EVE for 200 eVTOLs, as you can read in this press release.
Singapore Airlines and the National University of Singapore are partnering in a SG$ 45M laboratory to “develop traveller-centric digital solutions”
Like every new year, some updating and pruning of the 2021 new airlines and airline bankruptcy list.
And also a shiny brand new list of new airlines launched in 2022 (feel free to send your tips and suggestions!).