Monte To Purchase 100 FC Aircraft Drives From ZeroAvia
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on electrive.com.
This is the first paragraph.
ZeroAvia and Monte Aircraft Leasing will jointly market hydrogen-powered aircraft to regional operators. Under an agreement now signed between the companies, Monte will purchase up to 100 ZA600 hydrogen-electric powertrains from ZeroAvia to be installed on existing and new 5- to 20-seat aircraft.
Monte look to be an interesting company from their web site, which has this title.
Supporting The Transition Of The Regional Aviation Industry To Net Zero Carbon Emissions
The business model appears to be a well-proven and it is not that far removed from the one, colleagues and myself used to sell the project management system; Artemis.
In our case we took proven Hewlett-Packard computers and and other hardware, added our Artemis software and a custom-made desk and leased the systems to those who wanted to do project management, with as much support as our clients required. Customers just had to supply operators, printer paper and a thirteen amp socket.
Finance was obtained by various innovative methods, often through a bank manager, who was a bit of a rogue. But he was a rogue, who was on the side of the angels.
Later he became a firm friend of mine, before he sadly died within a few days of my wife.
Monte Aircraft Leasing’s model would appear to take a proven aircraft like a Cessna Caravan, Dornier 228 or Dash 8, replace the turboprop engines with a zero-carbon powerplant and then lease the aircraft. Often this will just be an additional lease to the existing operator.
The great advantage of this approach, is that the reengined aircraft does not need to be fully re-certified. It can fly under a Supplemental Type Certificate, which is described like this in Wikipedia.
A supplemental type certificate (STC) is a civil aviation authority-approved major modification or repair to an existing type certified aircraft, engine or propeller. As it adds to the existing type certificate, it is deemed “supplemental”. In the United States issuance of such certificates is under the purview of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Monte seem to have found a good way to make money from going net-zero.
ZeroAvia Raises $35 Million From United And Alaska Air Group to Provide Hydrogen-Electric Engines For Large Aircraft
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Aviation Today.
This is the first paragraph.
United Airlines announced an investment this week in ZeroAvia’s hydrogen-electric engines. ZeroAvia has secured $35 million in this latest round of investments from both United and Alaska Air Group. The total amount of investments in ZeroAvia is now $115 million and includes previous investors AP Ventures, Horizons Ventures, Shell Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Summa Equity, and Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund.
ZeroAvia certainly seem to be bringing in the investment.
After, yesterday’s trip in a dual-fuel train, lower- and zero-carbon fuels seem to be on the way.
Commercial Hydrogen Planes Will Be Flying By 2024
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Fuel News.
There is also this sub-heading.
ZeroAvia plans to start flying passenger flights between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
I am not as sure as the author of this article, but I do feel we’ll see some viable hydrogen aircraft.
- Airbus have gone from first flight to in service in eighteen months, but not with hydrogen.
- Turboprop and turbofans can be modified to run on hydrogen.
- Hydrogen storage is getting better at a fast rate.
Never underestimate engineers with ambition!
Air Passengers Can Beat Queues With Uber-Style Private Jet Service
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
Hyer Aviation are starting a service that uses similar technology to Uber to share seats on private jets around Europe.
Their modus operandi is laid out in this press release on their web site.
This paragraph is from the press release.
The concept works like an extra-comfortable UberPool with wings. Passengers can initiate their own flight or join flights proposed by others. This allows them to fly on private aircraft for a fraction of the cost while offsetting the carbon emission of their flights. From London, routes are available to some of Britain’s favourite holiday destinations such as Ibiza, Cannes, Malaga, Amalfi Coast and Amsterdam. From Amsterdam, it is also possible to find flights proposed by other passengers to Nice and Ibiza.
think this business model could fly.
Years ago, I owned a twin piston-engined six seater aircraft and I flew it all over Europe. I don’t fly now, as my medical history would probably stop that, but the experience showed there are many quiet airports all over the UK and Europe, that could be destinations for a 6-9 seater aircraft.
To me the interesting thing about this business model, is that there are several zero-carbon 6-9 seater aircraft under development.
Two are electric developments of the widely-used Cessna Caravan and the Britten-Norman Islander and others are clean-sheet developments like the Eviation Alice or the Faradair BEHA.
ZeroAvia are also experimenting with a hydrogen-powered Piper Malibu.
An electric or zero-carbon future for aviation is closer than many think.
But it will start at the smaller end with ranges of up to 500 miles.