Supernal’s decision to pause work on its eVTOL aircraft is a signal that the sector is entering a different phase. Hyundai created Supernal with strong funding, a long timeline, and a clear plan to bring a five-seat air taxi to market around 2028. If a global automaker with significant resources … [continued]
Aviation professionals are calling for hard emissions targets for the commercial airline industry as the number of travelers increases.
A traveler books a long-haul flight from Frankfurt to Singapore and notices a line item labeled “Environmental Surcharge.” It’s not optional, and it’s not tiny. For most economy passengers, it adds somewhere between €6 and €20. In business class, it can go much higher. At first glance, this might seem … [continued]
A COMAC C919 rolls to the end of the runway at Shanghai Pudong, a clean-lined aircraft shimmering in the haze as ground crews finish their checks. In the background, a row of pristine Boeing 737 MAX aircraft sit unused, tails high, their future uncertain. The scene is an imagined one, … [continued]
Donald Trump, in his glorious return to the Oval Office in January 2025, managed to do what no climate policy has achieved in decades: reduce transborder aviation emissions. Not by design, of course. He wouldn’t be caught dead attending a COP summit unless it was hosted at Mar-a-Lago and came … [continued]
A new showcase for green hydrogen fuel cell flight is taking shape, towards the goal of a nine-day, nonstop, zero emission flight around the world in 2028.
Hydrogen’s hoped for role in aviation dates back to the mid-20th century, when researchers began exploring its potential as an alternative to conventional jet fuel. In 1957, engineers at Lockheed and Boeing investigated hydrogen propulsion as part of Cold War efforts to develop high-altitude, long-endurance aircraft. In 1959, a modified … [continued]
For several years there have been a couple of parallel slow motion failures in the making, the use of hydrogen in transportation and the Jetsons’ fantasy of air taxis zipping over cities. Neither were based in economic, regulatory, or technical reality, preferring instead to have vast sums of governmental and … [continued]
Over the past few years tens of billions of dollars, enormous numbers of hours of aerospace engineers’ precious time, and countless articles have been wasted on the Jetsons fantasy of quiet, electric, folding aircraft taking off and descending vertically amidst the towers and homes of our cities. Now the US … [continued]
Jack Welch was the quintessential American capitalist, feted by Wall Street, dined by global politicians and harkened to by his innumerable acolytes. He destroyed General Electric personally, and his legacy is destroying Boeing, the only major commercial aircraft manufacturer left standing in the United States. That doesn’t bode well for … [continued]
