FutureFlight

While a number of companies are hard at work researching and developing hydrogen propulsion systems for more sustainable aircraft, commercial airlines around the world are starting to plan for future operations with hydrogen-powered aircraft. They face significant logistical and business challenges to make this transition work.

Airbus’s multi-path approach to decarbonization took another new direction last week when the company said it is probing how superconductivity technology could make a difference. During its Sustainability Summit event in Toulouse, France, and Munich last week, the airframer announced that it has joined the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in a demonstrator program aimed at promoting the adoption of superconductivity and cryogenics in airborne electrical distribution systems.

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have approved the development of an advanced air mobility (AAM) business park in Dubai. The facility will be built by ground infrastructure group VPorts at the Mohammed bin Rashid Aerospace Hub (MBRAH), which is part of the vast Al Maktoum International Airport and Dubai South complex.

Lilium says it has started to take pre-delivery payments worth 50 percent of the $7 million to $10 million price of the 50 Pioneer Edition examples of its eVTOL aircraft. The company aims to firm up provisional sales agreements during 2023 covering a total of 603 Lilium Jets as it starts to build the first full-scale, preproduction prototype that it intends to start flight testing in 2024.

Using its new design for a lightweight turbofan engine, Brazil's Tupan Aircraft is bringing a trio of hybrid-electric cargo drones to market. The uncrewed vehicles will be able to carry loads of up to 600 kg on flights of up to 1,200 km. The company eventually aims to develop a passenger-carrying aircraft.

Joby Aviation subsidiary H2Fly is developing a liquid hydrogen propulsion system that it believes could power 40-seat airliners on flights of up to around 1,250 miles by the end of the 2020s. The European Commission has put the German company in charge of its Project Heaven initiative to prove the case for hydrogen-powered aircraft as part of the Horizon 2020 zero-carbon initiative.

The Speeder is a remotely piloted VTOL air vehicle that is intended for applications including cargo deliveries and evacuating injured troops from the battlefield. Powered by turbine engines, the aircraft is expected to have a payload of 1,000 pounds and be able to fly up to 400 miles at 500 mph.

Volare Aviation, which manages a mix of private jets and helicopters in the executive charter market, has set up a new division called eVolare to operate and sell Lilium's Pioneer Edition version of its eVTOL aircraft. The UK-based company will offer flights throughout the greater London area and provide maintenance.

Archer Aviation has successfully conducted the first-ever transition flight with its Maker eVTOL air taxi prototype.

Xwing, a California-based company developing autonomous flight technology, has been contracted by the FAA to participate in the agency’s Crosscutting Operations Strategy and Technical Assessment (COSTA) air traffic management research project. Xwing will work together with the FAA and NASA to study how remotely piloted aircraft can be safely integrated with the National Airspace System while flying in complex environments with flight restrictions, such as fire traffic areas where other aircraft are actively working to suppress wildfires.