Sustainability & Climate Initiatives News

eVTOL Insights

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Ampaire begins Utah hybrid-electric flight demonstrations under FAA-DOT pilot program

Ampaire has begun real-world hybrid-electric aircraft demonstrations in Utah, flying a modified Cessna Skymaster on a three-leg mission along the I-15 corridor between California and Utah. The FAA-DOT eVTOL Integration Pilot Program effort will test potential regional cargo operations, while Ampaire plans to convert Cessna Grand Caravans for freight and passenger service.

eVTOL Insights

Ampaire Launches Hybrid-Electric Regional Flight Operations in Utah

FlightGlobal

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2Excel Aviation eyes Electra’s EL9 Ultra Short as potential fleet addition

eVTOL Insights

Unisphere Partners With Climate Impulse as Mission Planning Partner for Solar-Powered Circumnavigation

Unisphere has joined Climate Impulse as its mission planning partner, building on Solar Impulse 2’s completion of the first solar-powered circumnavigation in July 2016. The partnership connects Climate Impulse’s climate-focused aviation effort with the operational planning required for another high-profile demonstration of solar-powered flight.

Bloomberg

Mubadala-backed Brazilian venture plans $3 billion macauba-based sustainable aviation fuel project

A Brazilian company backed by Mubadala Capital plans to invest $3 billion in producing sustainable aviation fuel from macauba fruit, harvested from palm trees. The proposed project links an emerging biofuel feedstock to large-scale SAF ambitions in Brazil and could expand the sector’s alternative supply base.

AeroTime

Japan Airlines joins Japan’s first pilot test to capture CO2 directly from seawater

Japan Airlines has joined Hitachi and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines in Japan’s first pilot test of technology designed to remove carbon dioxide directly from seawater. The initiative brings an airline together with industrial and maritime partners to evaluate a potential ocean-based carbon-removal pathway for aviation’s decarbonization efforts.

SpaceNews.com

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Kreios Space selects NanoAvionics for air-breathing electric-propulsion VLEO demonstration

Spanish startup Kreios Space will demonstrate its air-breathing electric propulsion system in Very Low Earth Orbit aboard a microsatellite bus supplied by Kongsberg NanoAvionics. The mission targets the atmospheric-drag challenge that limits sustained VLEO operations and is planned as the first in-orbit demonstration of the technology.

AINonline

Project SEAN to trial electric flights connecting Scotland’s remote communities

A government-funded consortium is preparing trials of electric aircraft in Scotland, targeting improved connections for remote communities across the Highlands and Islands. The program builds on £31.5 million in UK Department for Transport funding secured by the Bristow-led Scottish Electric Aviation Network.