Air travel: sustainable technologies for freight and passengers

The current technological focus among startups connected to the aviation market undoubtedly responds to the idea of ​​reducing the environmental impact. It has been a few months since the first hydrogen aircraft with fuel cells and electric motors, built on the basis of a commercial model, flew for a few minutes taking off from Cranfield, England, home of the ZeroAvia research facility. Around the same time, Airbus announced details of three projects it is working on, all powered by hydrogen and with the aim of having them operational by 2035. In turn, United Airlines announced that it has signed an agreement. commercial for the purchase of aircraft called Overture from Boom Supersonic, aircraft optimized to run on 100% sustainable aviation fuel. At MIT in Boston, work is being done on a propulsion system that could eliminate 95 percent of CO2 emissions, while MIT and the Institute of Technological Sciences in Wuhan also compete on plasma-engine aircraft. Among the innovations already in progress, the Austrian startup Volare GmbH and the Vienna University of Technology are developing electrically powered and eco-sustainable airplanes for medium-range routes while Lilium is a German start-up that produces electric jets capable of taking off and land vertically. Lilium has just announced plans to sell 220 of its vehicles to Brazilian airline Azul. The two companies said they plan to build a network of eVTOL (electric vehicle take-off and landing) aircraft throughout Brazil by 2025. Alex Asseily, Lilium’s chief strategy officer told CNBC: “The aircraft we are planning to launch will do 175 miles per hour. The range will be 155 miles ”. A five-seater model is already on the market, but the one that will go into series production and will be sold in Azul will be a seven-seater model. Each Lilium jet will cost Azul about $ 4.5 million. Azul is Brazil’s largest national airline in terms of cities served and daily departures. Azul CEO John Rodgerson said Azul’s brand, route network and loyalty program will help “create the markets and demand for the Lilium jet network in Brazil.” Lilium competes with the likes of Airbus and BlackFly, and has so far raised $ 300 million from lenders while planning to raise another $ 830 million to reach an overall valuation of $ 3.3 billion. The money will also be raised through a corporate merger with QellSPAC which will also bring Gabrielle Toledano, among other former Tesla Chief of Staff, to the board of directors. of express services to the world and Eviation, the global manufacturer of all-electric aircraft based in Seattle, have closed a deal for 12 Eviation’s all-electric eCargo Alice aircraft. With this commitment, DHL aims to create an unprecedented electric Express network, becoming the pioneer company in sustainable aviation. Eviation’s Alice is the all-electric aircraft, which allows airlines, both cargo and passenger, to operate a zero-emission fleet. Eviation plans to deliver the Alice electric plane to DHL Express in 2024.