Electric aircraft will someday transform travel but won’t replace jetliners anytime soon — if ever. While electricity powers new urban mobility products, jets will increasingly rely on Sustainable Aviation Fuel, a drop-in substitute for JetA. For the long-term, the major air-framers and engine manufacturers are focused on hydrogen. Indeed, hydrogen combustion has already fueled aircraft: in 1988, the experimental Tupolev Tu-155. […]

Aviation is—in climate change parlance—“hard to abate,” meaning no actionable and scalable path to decarbonize. While there are hundreds of electric-powered aircraft startups, those are mostly short-takeoff rotorcraft designed for urban-mobility applications – flying cars in function if not form. Without major breakthroughs in battery technology, electrifying jet airliners isn’t in the cards. Instead, current thinking has SAF (Sustainable Aviation […]

Commercial aviation’s current 2% contribution (includes airlines, freight and private jets) to global emissions is a rounding error. But growth in developing markets is a potential concern, and the long runway for aviation technology requires early action for later impact. IATA’s — the international association of commercial carriers — has a plan which encompasses all major airlines. It achieves net-zero […]