It’s been four years since aviation fans, industry executives, aerospace engineers and investors last descended on the local airport in Farnborough, a quiet town about an hour southwest of London. Normally, the Farnborough International Airshow takes place every two years, alternating with the Paris Air Show. Together, they are the focal point for the aerospace industry. The pandemic disrupted this rhythm, but starting Monday the Farnborough show is back on track.
Air France-KLM has finalized the purchase of 200 fuel-efficient CFM International LEAP 1-A engines to power its new fleet of Airbus A320neo and A321neo aircraft. Air France-KLM has been a long-standing CFM customer and selected the LEAP engine as part of a strategy to renew and expand its fleet.
Countries and companies have been looking for ways to cut carbon, and the aviation industry, which contributes about 2% of global carbon emissions, is no different. In 2021, the Air Transport Action Group, whose members include GE Aviation, declared the aviation industry’s commitment to a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Joseph Sorota was working his shift at a GE factory in Lynn, Massachusetts, when he was called to the main office. “There was a man I never met who asked me what I did on the way home, did I have a girlfriend, did I have a drink at a bar,” Sorota told GE Reports. “When he identified himself as a man from the FBI, I almost died. I didn’t do anything wrong, but I thought he was there maybe to arrest me.”
CFM ve Airbus, Hidrojen Yanma Teknolojisine Öncülük Edecek
GE ile Safran Aircraft Engines tarafından 50/50 oranında kurulmuş anonim şirket olan CFM International (CFM) ile Airbus, 2020'li yılların ortalarında gerçekleştirilecek hidrojen tanıtım programında iş birliği yapmak üzere anlaşma imzaladı.
Program, 2035 yılına kadar sıfır emisyonlu bir uçağın hizmete sunulmasına hazırlık amacıyla, hidrojen ile çalışan doğrudan yanmalı bir motorun yerde ve uçuş sırasında test edilmesini amaçlıyor.
The race to decarbonize flight just picked up speed. Airbus and CFM International said this week they’ll collaborate on tests of an aircraft engine fueled by hydrogen.
As races go, this is a long-distance one. The partners will go to work immediately, with the aim of performing the first tests around the middle of this decade. This demonstration could pave the way for an aircraft that, if all goes according to plan, would carry passengers in the mid-2030s while producing no carbon emissions during flight.
It was just a few months before the end of World War II when President Franklin D. Roosevelt met with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdul Aziz in the Suez Canal and gave him a single Douglas DC-3 plane that soon started flying on domestic routes connecting Riyadh, Jeddah and Dhahran. The plane became the first aircraft operated by Saudia, the kingdom’s first airline.
Many airlines have put in place ambitious sustainability targets, but in an industry that had to weather a sharp drop in travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, lowering carbon emissions also has to be cost-effective.
Two is company, but three doesn’t have to be a crowd. It can be a successful partnership.
