Airline reviews, Airships & more (The Allplane Newsletter #88)
Advanced Air Mobility
Jaunt and Vertiko are working to launch an air mobility in Québec in 2026. Vertiko, which was created in 2021 to develop new air mobility models, is procuring 70 of Jaunt’s all-electric aircraft, plus two hybrids and a further 25 options. Jaunt will also get involved in training the pilots. At least 5 vertiports will be needed for the first phase of this project. Sounds exciting! LINK.
Projected Jaunt-Vertiko air mobility network in Québec. Map: Jaunt Air Mobility & Vertiko
Will be soon getting back to Jaunt and its rather unique approach in the eVTOL space, with its many points of contact with existing rotorcraft. Watch this space!
Lilium is going to use Zenlabs battery cell technology. It expects it will be able to deliver a 175km range once hover, take off and reserve are taken into account. LINK.
Vertical Aerospace is partnering with Brazilian airline GOL as well as Corporación America Airports, Grupo Comporte (a transportation operator) and leasing firm Avolon to find suitable vertiport options in Brazil. Let’s remember that today Brazil is one of the world’s largest helicopter markets. LINK.
Interesting thoughts on the ergonomics of eVTOLs (and often overlooked aspect of this novel type of aircraft!). LINK.
EVE is partnering with Porsche Consulting to define its supply chain and manufacturing operations. Are eVTOLs more like planes or like cars? LINK. This is a topic I covered a while ago in this CNN piece.
Who should pay for vertiports? Interesting piece about the funding of vertiports here.
Matternet wants to start drone deliveries in Switzerland for the local postal operator, Swiss Post, as early as January 2023. What’s not to love about the Swiss postal system? LINK.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel
Southwest Airlines is investing in a SAF refinery. The plant, operated by SAFFiRE Renewables in North Dakota, will convert corn stove (a waste product that is left after corn is harvested) into ethanol and then into SAF. This is a project backed by the US Department of Energy. The goal of Southwest is to replace 10% of its total jet fuel consumption with SAF by 2030. LINK.
And Alaska Airlines is purchasing 13M gallons of SAF from Aemetis, to be delivered from 2025. Aemetis produces its SAF in California using waste wood from orchards and forests as feedstock. LINK.
Other interesting stuff in Sustainable Aviation
Airbus will be using a Cessna Citation VII aircraft to test new carbon-reducing tech. LINK.
Austrian Airlines has started offering its passengers 3 options to mitigate the impact of flying: 1) Purchase SAF 2) Offsets or 3) A combination of the previous two. The add-on costs will depend on which one you choose and the range is quite broad (up to 30 times depending on whether you go for all SAF or just carbon offset projects!). LINK.
Boom Supersonic is going to use Climeworks carbon removal services as part of its sustainability programme. The two companies signed a 10-year deal. The potential environmental impact is surely one of the major issues affecting the prospects of a supersonic flight revival. LINK.
ANA is the latest airline to create a special livery to highlight its commitment to sustainability. In this case it is two Boeing 787s (a -9 and a -8) that have been designated as “Future Promise” aircraft. Sporting a green livery, from October flights on those planes will showcase a number of sustainability initiatives by ANA, such as the use of recyclable materials onboard. LINK. This initiative follows that of other airlines, such as Etihad, BA, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines or Hi Fly.
Picture: ANA
What else in aviation?
I wrote quite a few reviews…
Of airlines:
Flight review of Etihad B787-10 Business Class
Flight review of Qatar Airways B787-8 Economy Class
Flight review of Qatar Airways A350-1000 Economy Class
Of lounges at airports:
Review of the Qantas Lounge at London Heathrow T3
And of museums!
A visit to the Riyadh Aviation Museum
I also wrote a piece for The Points Guy about the state of airline alliances, now that Star Alliance has turned 25! LINK.
In other news, Icelandic startup airline Niceair got its first aircraft, an A319 wet-leased from Portuguese carrier Hi Fly. Niceair is starting flights connecting the north of Iceland to Europe, bypassing Reykyavik. LINK.
And Qantas flew the first ever nonstop flight between Spain and Australia, carrying Football Club Barcelona to a match in Sydney. The B787-9 flew nonstop between Barcelona and Darwin, before continuing to Sydney. LINK.
Quite a few updates to the 2022 Airline Bankruptcy list. LINK.
And also new airlines added to the 2022 list! LINK.
London Heathrow’s Terminal 4 is about to reopen, but before that I strolled through the empty terminal. Here is what I saw. LINK.
Have you ever seen the rest area of a long haul airliner? This is the “secret” compartment where crew members can get some rest between shifts. I climb onto the one on Etihad’s A350-1000 to take some pics. LINK.
Is Google going to bring us back the airship? Great piece by Thom Patterson on Flying Magazine about Sergey Brin’s airship project. LINK.
Norwegian is ordering 50 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, mainly to replace the current fleet over the coming years. It seems that Norwegian is leaving behind both its financial struggles and its dispute with Boeing. LINK.
And Norse Atlantic (a sort of “successor” to Norwegian’s long haul operation) is almost ready to launch. Its Dreamliners have already been spotted at Gatwick!
Qatar Airways have signed (new) codeshares with both American Airlines and LEVEL. Not sure how product and service consistency is ensured, particularly in the case of the latter!
Air France is revamping its first class, called La Première, starting in the 2023/24 winter seaason. LINK.
Last but not least, check out this jaw-dropping and amazingly detailed 40,000-piece Emirates A380 lego set! LINK.