Page 47 - World Airnews Magazine April 2020 Edition

ELECTRIC ELECTRIC
AIRCRAFT AIRCRAFT

WHY FULLY ELECTRIC expected for 2022, with a potential bigger APPEASING THE FLYGSKAM aims at creating an all-electric commercial

aircraft for short-haul flights.

(50 seats) version for 2030.
The British carrier EasyJet plans to become

One manufacturer shows even more ambi- the first major airline in the world to operate QANTAS JOINS IAG, VOWS FOR ZERO

AVIATION IS NOT tion. The US start-up company Wright Electric net-zero carbon flights by offsetting the carbon EMISSIONS BY 2050

and its partner, the airline easyJet, plan to fly

emissions from the fuel used on all its flights.
Aviation industry, currently responsible for

an entirely electric regional aircraft capable of

In its 2019 financial results, easyJet announced
approximately 2% of global CO² emissions, is
FOR TOMORROW carrying no less than 186 passengers by 2030. it would invest around £25 million or (US) $32 striving to correct itself and cut the number in
million in initiatives such as tree planting.

A smaller, yet ambitious operator, the

half in the next three decades. Now, following
Canadian company Harbour Air, envisions

“We acknowledge that offsetting is only

converting its fleet of DHC-2 Beaver sea- an interim measure until other technologies a similar pledge by International Airlines

Group (IAG), Qantas is stepping forward
planes in the next two years with the help become available to radically reduce the and vows to reach zero emissions by 2050.
of the Australian manufacturer magniX. carbon emissions of flying, but we want to However, some measures, like electric aircraft

Their first “eBeaver” testbed achieved its take action on carbon now,” Lundgren said. engines, as still “some time” away.

maiden flight on December 10, 2019. In addition to carbon offsetting, easyJet In May 2019, SAS Scandinavian Airlines

In total, the consulting firm Roland Berger announced a partnership with Airbus to signed a research agreement with Airbus to
estimates that over 200 different projects “research the opportunities and challenges co-operate on identifying hybrid and electric

revolving around electric aviation are currently of introducing hybrid and electric aircraft aircraft and infrastructure requirements. The

being developed. But given the slow evolution for short-haul flying in Europe.” two companies should focus on analysing the

of battery technology, a fully electric airliner The European manufacturer is currently de- impact of ground infrastructure and pricing

the size of an Airbus A320 or a Boeing 737 veloping the E-Fan X, a 90-seat hybrid-electric on the radius of action, resources, time and

should not fly before the end of this century. Airbus aircraft. The first test flight is sched- availability at airports.

In the meantime, airlines rely on offset- uled to take place in 2021. As for easyJet, it It should also involve a renewable energy

ting their carbon emissions by investing in has been co-operating since 2017 with Wright supplier to ensure “genuine zero CO² emis-

carbon-negative projects. Electric, a Californian start-up company that sions operations are assessed”. Q

GENERAL
AVIATION
NEW PRIVATE-JET MODELS PUSH
DELIVERIES TO HIGHEST IN A DECADE
So why did OSM Aviation turn all-electric and Another problem that arises from relying

what are the drawbacks for the manufacturers? on a battery is safety. A damaged battery

he aviation industry is under un- The world of inventors already produced can combust, as shown by the multiple

Tprecedented pressure regarding its a few successful examples. In 1884, Charles power bank incidents that have led the ICAO

impact on the climate. Aircraft manufactur- Renard and Arthur Constantin Krebs piloted council to ban all spare lithium-ion batteries

ers and airlines redouble their engagement the first fully controllable electric vehicle, from cargo holds. And if parking your Tesla usiness-jet shipments last year

to limit their carbon footprint. Motivated an air balloon, over eight kilometres. on the side of the highway to watch it turn Bjumped to their highest level

by the example of the car industry, a In 1973, Fred Militky and Heino Britéesch- into flames and smoke is one thing, landing a in a decade, spurred on by new models
plane on fire is another kind of challenge.

number of them see the electric plane as a ka converted a Britéeschka HB-3 powered and solid US economic growth.
way forward. However, that does not seem glider into an electric plane renamed Milit- CLOSING THE TECHNOLOGICAL GAP Deliveries rose 15% to 809 aircraft,

likely to happen tomorrow. ky MB-E1. After reaching an altitude of 300 The first frontier should be regional the General Aviation Manufacturers As-

While manufacturers are improving on metres for a flight of fourteen minutes, it aviation. In July 2018, Norway set the sociation said recently. Sales jumped 17%

the fuel efficiency of their aircraft, the became the first manned electric aircraft. ambitious goal to see all short-haul airliners to (US) $21.1 billion, driven in large part by

technological improvement cannot keep In 2007, the BL1E Electra was the first be fully electric by 2040. Manufacturers big corporate planes.

up with the densification of traffic. Thus, conventional light aircraft to be powered by are scrambling to deliver on such promises. New aircraft, including the Gulfstream

electric aircraft appear as a solution for a an electric motor. Finally, in 2015, the Air- Expecting a fully electric aircraft to fly G500, Bombardier Inc.’s Global 7500 and

sustainable future. And they have more bus E-Fan crossed the Channel from Lydd, commercial routes in the near future might Textron Inc.’s Cessna Longitude helped bring
than one advantage. in the United Kingdom to Calais, France. be a bit ambitious. However, hybrid propul- the market to its highest mark since 2009.

In addition to the reduction of carbon But those groundbreaking records have yet to sion systems are a more tangible compro- Deliveries peaked at 1,300 jets in “The development of supersonic and ly carry around four passengers, rose 12%.

emissions, they also offer a reduction in turn into a sustainable solution. While the Pipis- mise. After cancelling the fully-electric E-fan 2008, when the recession caused a electrically propelled aircraft” is helping Jefferies and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have

noise production. With air traffic becoming trel Alpha Electro is already certified in the US, programme in 2017, Airbus, Siemens, and multiyear decline. to fuel optimism among manufacturers. projected that shipments will increase this

increasingly dense in all regions of the world, its capacity of two people will not be enough to Rolls Royce set out to develop the engine of Demand last year also got support Shipments of large business jets, year, though not as much as last year, with

it is a welcome quality for the cohabitation revolutionize the industry of air transport. a hybrid plane, the E-Fan X. One of the four from a US economy that grew 2.3% and which can seat as many as 19 passen- new aircraft continuing to drive growth.

between airports and local communities. The main challenge remains techno- engines of a BAE Systems Avro RJ100 regional as concerns eased over the UK’s exit gers, jumped 20% to 207 planes. Con- General Dynamics Corp.’s Gulfstream unit is

Another incentive is the reduction of logical. Engineers have to find the right jet will be replaced by a 2MW hybrid-electric from the European Union. figurations on the biggest aircraft often ramping up deliveries of the G600, which was

operational costs. balance between the weight of batteries propulsion system. If Siemens abandoned the About 67% of jet shipments went to will sacrifice seating for other amenities, first handed over to customers in August.

Espen Høiby, CEO of OSM Aviation, has and the amount of power needed for a project in June 2019, the aircraft is still sched- North American customers. Europe, the such as dining and sleeping areas. Textron’s Cessna began deliveries of the Lon-

said that an electric trainer costs 78% less to flight. Current weight efficiency meant that uled to take to the skies around 2021. second-biggest market, accounted for 14%. Deliveries of midsize jets, accounting gitude, its largest aircraft, in October. Q

operate than a conventional trainer. In April one-third of the two-seat Airbus E-fan was Boeing is also betting on hybrid propul- “The general-aviation manufacturing for a little more than half the market,

2019, the Norwegian company hit the news dedicated to batteries. With the speed at sion. Through the start-up Zunum Aero, industry is vibrant,” association Presi- increased 14% to 440 planes. Article courtesy: https://ww-

with the announcement of their transition which energy density is improving, crossing it intends to transport 12 passengers on dent Pete Bunce said in a statement. Shipments of small aircraft, which typical- w.247news.africa/business-report/

to a fully electric fleet for training, using 60 the distance between a trainer plane and regional flights while producing 80% lower

eFlyer 2 developed by Bye Aerospace. an airliner should take decades. CO2 emission. The entry into service is
World Airnews | April 2020 World Airnews | April 2020
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