New ATR, greenest aircraft maker and more (The Allplane Newsletter #86)
Electric Aviation
Pratt & Whitney Canada and H55 will collaborate in the development of hybrid-electric propulsion. This is yet another electric aviation startup from the French-speaking part of Switzerland setting up foot in Québec’s emerging clean aviation hub. By the way, H55 is the brainchild of André Borschberg, past guest of the Allplane podcast, and Solar Impulse pilot. LINK.
French startup VoltAero is launching its own fractional ownership programme for the Cassio hybrid-electric aircraft family it is developing. You can find out more about VoltAero here.
Advanced Air Mobility
A possible change in the FAA certification approach has thrown most of the eVTOL industry into turmoil. The regulatory body may treat eVTOLs as a “powered-lift” vehicle rather than as a small winged plane. This may benefit those startups that had taken a more cautious approach in this regard, such as Jaunt, which has always had elements from the helicopter world and was planning accordingly. LINK.
Blade is coming to Europe and has hired a senior executive from Airbus Helicopters to head its European HQ in Paris. While doing so it acknowledges that the European market can be more challenging than the American ones where it operates. LINK.
Six Korean companies including LCC Jeju Air have joined forces to develop AAM in the country. The time-frame sounds quite ambitious: first tests in 2023 and operational by 2024. Aircraft are going to be provided by Vertical Aerospace. LINK.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel
Nice summary of the evolution of the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry published by Sustainable Aero Lab. LINK.
Rolls-Royce wants to power Embraer’s next 70-90 seat turboprop, which should be able to run 100% on SAF towards 2027 or 2028. Here’s a detailed explanation on AirInsight. Rolls-Royce doesn’t have a turboprop product at the moment, so this should free it up to think of a next generation concept without legacy constraints.
ATR is also working on a new generation turboprop that can run 100% on SAF. This will be a new iteration of its poplar ATR 42/72 design, which will be called ATR EVO. LINK.
Cebu Pacific became the firs low cost airline in the Asia-Pacific region to use SAF. In particular in the delivery flight from Toulouse. If we count the impact per capita, Cebu Pacific has the advantage of operating a particular dense configuration for this type. LINK.
Hydrogen aviation
Piaggio is looking at options to develop a clean-sheet hydrogen-electric aircraft. The Italian manufacturer considered first which options it had to adapt the existing airframes, but it then ruled out this option. LINK.
ZeroAvia is converting a second Dornier Do228 to test its ZA600 hydrogen powertrain. This second aircraft is going to be based in California (the first one is in the UK). LINK.
Other interesting stuff
Is Boeing the greenest OEM? So think the experts at AirInsight after looking at a model that takes into account revenue-ton miles for a whole range of airliners currently in service. LINK.
First net-zero transatlantic flight next year? this is at least the goal of the British government. LINK.
Embraer’s executive jet customers on the firm’s Executive Care programme will get 25 hours of carbon neutral flying. The off-seting will be managed by 4AIR, a firm whose founder was on the Allplane podcast talking sustainability in the private jet industry. Once the 25h are over, 4AIR will be ready to offer some additional offsetting. Prepare for more announcements like this as we head towards EBACE week.
Lots going on at Surf Air. First, the firm is going public. Second, it is acquiring regional operator Southern Airways. And last but not least, in the technological front, Surf Air is partnering with magniX and aeroTEC to work on hybrid-electric and electric powertrains for Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft. Btw, I featured Surf Air and its original business model in this CNN article of 2015 and magniX in this podcast interview with its former CEO.
Etihad has performed 42 of the so-called “Ecoflights” over a 5 day period. Those flights are used to test a whole range of incremental technologies that make flying more environmentally efficient. More stuff coming up soon about Etihad, since I have recently had the chance to try out its newest aircraft…LINK.
What else in aviation?
As mentioned in a previous edition of the newsletter, the inaugural edition of the Future Aviation Forum took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Here is my report from the event and about the very ambitious plans Saudi Arabia has for its aviation industry. LINK.
Published one more article on The Points Guy:
Since Austrian Airlines has started to auction pieces of its B767s cabin, I wrote a piece about discarded aircraft parts that end up repurposed as designer furniture.
I reviewed Qatar Airways Airbus A380 Economy Class on a flight between London Heathrow (LHR) and Doha (DOH). LINK.
Some more additions to the 2022 airline bankruptcy list. LINK.