by Joy Finnegan | Sep 27, 2022 | Innovation
All-electric aircraft pioneer, Eviation Aircraft, completed the first flight of its zero-emission Alice aircraft, calling the flight “a milestone in electric aviation.”
Alice lifted off at 7:10 a.m. from Grant County International Airport (MWH), flying for eight minutes at an altitude of 3,500 feet. This trailblazing flight of the technology demonstrator provided Eviation with invaluable data to further optimize the aircraft for commercial production.
“Today we embark on the next era of aviation – we have successfully electrified the skies with the unforgettable first flight of Alice,” said Gregory Davis, Eviation president and CEO. “People now know what affordable, clean and sustainable aviation looks and sounds like for the first time in a fixed-wing, all-electric aircraft. This ground-breaking milestone will lead innovation in sustainable air travel, and shape both passenger and cargo travel in the future.”
Alice produces no carbon emissions, significantly reduces noise, and costs a fraction to operate per flight hour compared to light jets or high-end turboprops.
Fly the Future: Transforming Regional Travel
All-electric aircraft will make regional travel more economically and environmentally sustainable for businesses and consumers. This new generation of aircraft has the power to transform communities by providing access to airports not currently used by commercial flights due to noise concerns or restricted operating hours. Eviation Alice is targeted at commuter and cargo markets, and will typically operate flights ranging from 150 miles to 250 miles.
Cape Air and Global Crossing Airlines, both US-based regional airlines, have placed orders for 75 and 50 Alice aircraft respectively. DHL Express is Eviation’s first cargo customer, with an order of 12 Alice eCargo planes. With this engagement DHL aims to establish the first electric express network, leading the way for a new era of zero-emissions air freight.
“The first flight of Alice represents a transformational milestone for the aviation industry,” said Dan Wolf, Cape Air founder and board chairman. “We currently fly more than 400 regional flights per day, connecting more than 30 cities across the United States and Caribbean. Alice can easily cover 80 percent of our flight operations, bringing sustainable, emission-free travel to the communities we serve.”
“The first flight of Alice confirms our belief that the era of sustainable aviation is here,” said Geoff Kehr, senior vice president, Global Air Fleet Management, DHL Express. “With our order of 12 Alice e-cargo planes, we are investing towards our overall goal of zero-emissions logistics. DHL is the industry leader by introducing new and more sustainable cargo aircraft types to the global market. Alice is the true game-changer by enabling long distance air transport for the first time with zero emissions. This historic flight marks a significant milestone on our journey to ultimately achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.”
by Joy Finnegan | Sep 26, 2022 | Innovation
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) has successfully collided with the asteroid Dimorphos in a NASA first. NASA wanted to test whether it could successfully guide the satellite into the asteroid in efforts to redirect the course of the rock.
Although the asteroid posed no danger to earth, the practice mission will provide a wealth of data in the case of an asteroid that may do so in the future. NASA said it was a perfect target to test out a “kinetic impact” and learn more about the effects if an asteroid is ever on track to hit the Earth.
NASA is hoping the impact will redirect the asteriod and that they will be able to use the data collected from this event to assist in such a mission if it ever became necessary to prevent an asteroid from impacting earth.
According to a NASA statement: “DART is the first-ever mission dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact. This method will have DART deliberately collide with a target asteroid—which poses no threat to Earth— in order to change its speed and path. DART’s target is the binary, near-Earth asteroid system Didymos, composed of the roughly 780-meter (2,560-foot) -diameter ‘Didymos’ and the smaller, approximately 160-meter (530-foot)-size ‘Dimorphos,’ which orbits Didymos. DART will impact Dimorphos to change its orbit within the binary system, and the DART Investigation Team will compare the results of DART’s kinetic impact with Dimorphos to highly detailed computer simulations of kinetic impacts on asteroids. Doing so will evaluate the effectiveness of this mitigation approach and assess how best to apply it to future planetary defense scenarios, as well as how accurate the computer simulations are and how well they reflect the behavior of a real asteroid.”
by Joy Finnegan | Sep 26, 2022 | Innovation
Business aviation groups put forward a set of policy principles to guide long-term carbon emissions reductions in the lead-up to the 41st International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Triennial Assembly convening this week.
ICAO, a United Nations agency, convenes its 193 member states every three years to set worldwide aviation policy. The next triennial meeting will be held in Montreal from Sept. 27 to Oct. 7.
Under the Business Aviation Commitment on Climate Change, the industry has committed to achieving net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050. Sustainable aviation fuel, which can reduce aviation’s lifecycle carbon emissions by up to 80%, is key to reaching this goal.
The International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) and other industry groups have developed four guiding principles for the assembly that provide a roadmap for ensuring the sector continues to build on its established record of safety, security and sustainability in the years to come:
- Foster investments that scale the production, availability and use of SAF, including tax credits;
- Encourage greater use of industry initiatives, such as book-and-claim, which enable sustainability gains when SAF is not available, especially at the small airports where business aviation operations are prevalent;
- Support innovations, including electric powered aircraft and other propulsion alternative technologies, that can greatly cut CO2 emissions; and
- Encourage cooperative programs between member states to spread the use of best practices proven to increase aviation sustainability.
“We know what our industry needs to accomplish to reach our goal of net-zero emissions, and we have the tools available to do so,” IBAC Director General Kurt Edwards said. “Now is the time to put in place the appropriate policies for this vision to become a reality.”
A working paper presented by the global aviation industry to ICAO in July estimated that “between 53% and 71% of aviation decarbonization will need to be delivered through a shift to sustainable aviation fuels.” Significant global SAF production is “achievable with the right policy support and market signals,” and could “generate or sustain up to 14 million jobs,” the industry said.
In addition to carbon reductions from SAF, the industry said that “between 12% and 34% will need to come from the development and deployment of new technologies, including both evolutions in conventional airframe efficiency and radical new technology options such as hydrogen in the more ambitious scenarios.”
Industry emissions progress
From 2010 to 2020, the business aviation sector met its short-term climate action goal with analysis showing a 1.9% annual fuel efficiency improvement on a rolling average. As a result, between 2015 and 2020, the industry’s carbon emissions were 2.4 million tons lower than levels forecasted in 2015.
by Joy Finnegan | Sep 23, 2022 | Connectivity, Flight Ops IT, Innovation
OAG recently released Megahubs 2022, a list of the Top 50 most internationally connected airports in the world and the Top 25 most domestically connected airports in the U.S. Last updated in 2019, Megahubs provides fresh insights into how ongoing air travel disruption has affected global connectivity over the past three years.
A strong domestic aviation market propelled U.S. airports to dominate Megahubs this year. Chicago’s O’Hare (ORD) moved up from its third-place 2019 ranking and is now the #1 most internationally connected airport in the world and leads North America for the fifth consecutive time. On the busiest day of aviation at ORD, there were 43,350 possible connections within a six-hour window, compared to 65,294 in 2019.
O’Hare is followed globally by Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), Atlanta (ATL), Seattle (SEA), Denver (DEN), Los Angeles (LAX), and New York John F. Kennedy (JFK). In total, 18 U.S. airports landed on the Top 50 with 13 taking the top 20 spots. Domestically, Atlanta ranks #2 and Dallas/Fort Worth ranks #3 in the U.S. Outside of North America, the most connected airport was Indira Gandhi International Airport(DEL), which came in #13 globally.
“With a total of 66 destinations served in August 2022 and ranking third in the world in terms of total capacity, O’Hare launched to #1 on the world stage,” said John Grant, chief analyst at OAG. “Given the combination of fewer international destinations and the strength of recovery in the U.S. domestic market, it’s not surprising that seven U.S. airports have taken the top global spots this year.”
The top three U.S. airports are dominated by United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines. United Airlines owns 46% of flights at O’Hare (down 2% from 2019) and American Airlines owns 85% at Dallas/Fort Worth. Delta Airlines has a 77% share of flights at Atlanta.
Eight U.S. airports also landed on the Top 25 Low-Cost Carrier Megahubs list, with Denver International Airport (DEN) ranking third overall – up from its #55 ranking in 2019 – due to the strong presence of Southwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines. United Airlines is the dominant carrier at DEN, with a 52% share of flights.
London Heathrow (LHR) dropped to #22 globally after ranking as the #1 most internationally connected airport in 2019. The number of possible connections on the busiest day of aviation at LHR has fallen by 40% as a result of schedule reductions which affected high frequency short-haul routes.Mexico City Juarez International Airport (MEX) is now the highest ranked non-U.S. Megahub, which came in #8 globally.
Megahubs is created using OAG’s fligth data platform of the most comprehensive airlines schedules and global flight connections database in the world. Fight connectivity is based on regional location and airline type. Rankings include the dominant airline at each hub and the share of flights operated by that carrier. In some instances during recovery, flight and destination combinations have been radically changed, leading to notable names missing in Megahubs 2022.
by Joy Finnegan | Sep 23, 2022 | Connectivity, Flight Ops IT, Innovation
Tetra Tech has been awarded a technical assistance contract by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) to support Mexico’s civil aviation program. Under this 18-month contract, our technology and aviation experts will optimize airspace communications, navigation, surveillance, and air traffic management.
Tetra Tech will use simulation models and advanced data analytics to develop a phased national civil aviation master plan for the Mexican Federal Civil Aviation Agency. We will apply Tetra Tech’s patented Volans software as a service (SaaS) technology to provide optimized airspace capacity, economic analysis, and environmental solutions. This project is a priority for the Mexican government to carry out its mandate of air traffic management oversight in the country.
“The Tetra Tech Federal IT Group has provided lifecycle services to support the Federal Aviation Administration and other international aviation authorities in their mission to deliver safe, efficient, and sustainable airspace for more than 20 years,” said Tetra Tech Chairman and CEO Dan Batrack. “We are pleased to use our cutting-edge Volans technology to support USTDA and the Mexican civil aviation program in this critical transportation infrastructure project that will improve aviation performance, operations, and safety as part of Mexico’s multi-year National Infrastructure Program.”
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