Major OEMs announced significant sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) financing initiatives at the Farnborough Airshow on Tuesday in a move to wrest control of the fight against climate change away from the major oil companies.

A group led by Airbus and including the Air France-KLM Group, Associated Energy Group, BNP Paribas, Mitsubishi HC Capital Inc., and Qantas Airways, co-invested in a SAF financing fund to accelerate production of the green fuel. The collaborators worked with Burnham Sterling Asset Management to establish the SAF Financing Alliance (SAFFA) investment fund, in which Airbus serves as an anchor investor. Commitments by the seven partners amount to around $200 million.

Boom Supersonic's lofty ambition to field a Mach 1.7 commercial airliner by 2029 appears to have gained some more momentum as maintenance partner StandardAero agreed to test and assemble the airplanes' Symphony engines at its facility in Texas.

Here in Farnborough, Boom also revealed for the first time the aircraft's Honeywell Anthem avionics suite, which now incorporates Universal Avionics’ ClearVision enhanced flight vision system (EFVS). The system installed on the Overture will include Universal’s second-generation head-wearable device, SkyLens II, along with the EVS-5000 multispectral camera, connected switches, computer units, and the Aperture visual management system.

Boeing’s F-15EX Eagle II brings such capability to the table that there has been evidence of a considerable re-evaluation of its mission set in U.S. Air Force service.

Following a gap between deliveries of the first two aircraft and subsequent units, the combined operational and developmental test fleet at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida has received six aircraft for trials. On June 5, Boeing delivered the first aircraft to the 123rd Fighter Squadron “Redhawks” of the Air National Guard at Portland, Oregon. It delivered a second unit to Portland in early July.

Supernal’s four-passenger S-A2 eVTOL aircraft is making its international debut at the Farnborough Airshow this week. For many, it will allow their first glimpse of a new mode of public transportation intended to break the tyranny of crowded roads in and around cities.

The company’s engineering team is now building a full-scale technology demonstrator version of the all-electric aircraft that it aims to start flying later this year. On Monday, GKN Aerospace delivered the first composite wings, with booms set to arrive at Supernal’s California facility by the end of this month. The aircraft will prepare the way for the first S-A2 prototype, which the company expects to be ready for flight in 2025.

Paraguay’s air force has confirmed an order for six of Embraer’s A-29 Super Tucano aircraft. Embraer plans to deliver the light attack and training platform starting in 2025 under a contract announced Tuesday that includes mission equipment and an integrated logistics services agreement.

Embraer launched export versions of the Super Tucano in April 2023 with capabilities that also cover armed reconnaissance and close air support. The program now has collected orders for more than 260 aircraft since it first entered service with Brazil’s air force in 2019.

The digital flip-through issues of AIN’s award-winning Farnborough Airshow News are now available online. It’s a great way to quickly scan the news from Farnborough 2024, whether you’re attending the show or watching from afar.