Page 83 - World Airnews Magazine January 2020 Edition

NEWS DIGITAL

we can electrify aircraft just another white Lufthansa’s CEO, Carsten Spohr, recently engines replaced by an electric engine,
elephant waiting to happen? pointed out that the decisions being made which could reduce the amount of jet fuel
by airlines now are those we will have to required for landing, as well as handling
A PROBLEM OF POWER live with for the next 25 years. From order some of the propulsion once at cruising
altitude and speed.
The issue with electrifying aircraft is to delivery can take some three to five CEO of Safran, Philippe Petitcolin,
years, then usually an airline will fly those
the power source itself. With no major planes for 10, 15 or even 20 years. By the recently said in an article carried by La
groundbreaking innovations in the world of time that airline needs to renew its fleet Tribune that we need to forget 100%
battery technology, getting enough stored again, the opportunity to make an impact electric aircraft, at least for now. She is
power on board a large passenger aircraft on climate change before 2050 will be quoted as saying,
would require power units of immense size pretty much over. “On these types of aircraft and distances,
and weight. there will certainly be hybridization with
Mark Dunnachie of ATR Aircraft previ- electricity that will assist the engines, but
ously pointed out that to get an ATR-72 in A MORE REALISTIC SOLUTION the replacement of engines by electric
the air with electricity would require a 20 While a 100% electric aircraft may be motors, we must forget. We were fooled by
ton battery, almost as heavy as the entire some years away, and possibly just a white this because it is happening in the automo-
MTOW of the plane. elephant that will either never be built or tive sector, but the battery does not meet
Andreas Klöckner from the German built too late, electrification could play a the demands of commercial aviation.”
Aerospace Centre (DLR) concurred with role in driving down the CO ² emissions However, he does admit, as do others,
this notion, expressing doubt that a large associated with flying. that for small planes operating short
electric aircraft would be seen much before Hybrid electric-jet technology is a much distances, electrification of aircraft is
2040. more realistic possibility, and something perhaps not quite so far-fetched.
And it’s not just the power that’s the that we could see as an option on existing For the rest of the aviation sector,
problem. aircraft within the next decade or so. we’ll have to hope that a combination
Even if a large passenger aircraft Airbus is working in partnership with of improvements to engine technology,
was created that was 100% electrically Rolls Royce on the E-Fan X, an engine which carbon offsetting and taking fewer short
powered, would it be brought to market in is expected to take its first flight in 2021. flights when ground based options are
time to make enough of an impact? This would see one of an aircraft’s jet available is enough. Q

NEWS DIGITAL

ZIMBABWE AVIATION

AUTHORITIES TO GREEN

AIRPORT FACILITIES

By Wallace Mawire

concept of the aerotropolis model, were facilities found in major
cities were being developed around airports. An aerotropolis is
The Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) has made a metropolitan sub region whose, infrastructure, land use, and
calls for expression of interest from interested companies and economy are centered on an airport. It fuses the terms "aero-"
organizations to partner with them to develop projects to green (aviation) and "metropolis”. He said that Zimbabwe was not
then country’s airport facilities. an exception and needed to move with such global trends in
Tawanda Gusha, CAAZ Director of Airports told participants infrastructure development.
at an aviation stakeholders meeting held in Harare on 13 It is reported that the authority had also made a call for
November 2019 that the authority was courting potential expression of interest for companies interested in initiating
investors to develop solar farms within the airports. horticultural facilities around the airports.
It is reported that the initial project is expected to be It was also indicated that there had been illegal land develop-
implemented at Robert Gabriel Mugabe international airport. ments near Robert Gabriel Mugabe international airport which
“This would in future see us limiting our dependence on were stopped by government through the authority.
hydro-electric and thermal power use at the airport facilities,” Solar farms are large scale solar installations where photovol-
Gusha said. taic (PV) panels, referred to as solar panels, or other means of
He said that investors were welcome to develop the country’s collecting solar energy, like concentrating solar systems are used
airports to world-class standards. to harvest the suns power. Solar farms are also known as solar
Gusha added that airports worldwide were adopting the parks and solar power stations. Q

World Airnews | January Extra 2020
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