Business aviation OEMs are optimistic about an industry rebound with reports of as many as one million customers flying private for the first time during 2020, but the leaders of the companies believe they are still facing a range of challenges. The heads of nine OEMs gave their views on how the pandemic has shaped the industry and discussed their outlook for the future yesterday during an EBACE Connect “Lightning Round with the CEOs” session.
“We were not really prepared for such a pandemic crisis,” conceded Dassault CEO Éric Trappier. “We had to adapt ourselves.” But, he added, the industry learned it could adapt during a major crisis.
Business aviation provides for fewer “touchpoints,” attracting travelers during the pandemic, added Michael Amalfitano, president and CEO of Embraer. “In turn, we have seen more first-time buyers than ever before.”
Boeing Business Jets president James Detwiler added that his company has seen a significant increase in interest with reports of a million people having traveled private for the first time. “They now see the value of chartering a private jet,” he said.
However, while presenting an optimistic picture, the OEM heads agreed that they face obstacles. Detwiler pointed to ongoing pandemic challenges and “the continued challenge of not being able to visit with our customers in person.”
Pilatus CEO Markus Bucher said his company’s biggest challenge has been supply-chain disruption, calling the issue “the single biggest risk in our business.”
Brexit Fallout Impacts LPV Approaches at UK Airports
Pilots will no longer be able to perform LPV approaches at UK airports starting on June 25, when the UK ends participation in the space-based EGNOS position-augmentation service, marking another fallout from Brexit. EGNOS, the EU's satellite navigation system, supports Category 1-equivalent LPV approach guidance for landing aircraft without the need for ground-based navigation aid infrastructure.
Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps has confirmed that the UK government could not agree to terms with the EU for continuing to use the service. “After [June 25] airspace users will not be able to benefit from LPV approaches and instead, where possible, rely on lateral navigation procedures,“ said Shapps.
He said the government has begun work on exploring alternative options for providing a commensurate navigation system, including discussions with the UK Space Agency for a dedicated UK replacement service. “But it is, unfortunately, going to take some time and considerable investment to implement,” said Shapps.
The CAA suggested 18 airports in the UK are “likely impacted by the loss of access to EGNOS.” This includes London Oxford Airport, which has been aspiring to establish LPV approaches at the site for several years and said the loss of EGNOS access “takes us back to the drawing board.”
No Stone Left Unturned in Bid for Bizav Sustainability
What will it take to make aviation more environmentally sustainable? Just about anything and everything seemed to be the answer from yesterday's EBACE Connect session on the issue.
Attendees heard how Airbus has scientists with its BlueSky team tapping microbiology for techniques such as using microbes and enzymes to “brew” new aircraft fuels using waste that can’t otherwise be cleanly disposed of. According to senior research project leader Patricia Parleviet, the European aerospace group is leaving no stone unturned in the quest for sustainability, with teams also working in fields such as quantum computing and sensing, as well as biomimicry (looking for inspiration from birds and insects).
Anita Sengupta, a former NASA engineer who has launched a hydrogen fuel cell developer called Hydroplane, argued that electric batteries for aircraft are not “an evolutionary path” because of how they are produced and disposed of. California-based Hydroplane is working on a new hydrogen fuel cell system to power aircraft that could be ready to flight test within 18 months.
Sebastiano Fumero, an advisor with the European Commission (EC), said that organization has launched a consultation with alternative fuel producers to encourage new ways to increase production rates for sustainable aviation fuel. He said the EC’s new public-private joint undertaking is appealing for new ideas and partners from within aviation but also from the energy sector and other industries.
Third-party verified to ISO standards, the EPD discloses detailed environmental information about the Global 7500’s lifecycle, such as CO2 emissions, noise, water consumption, and other key environmental impact indicators. Bombardier called the EPD an important milestone in its overarching environmental sustainability strategy, saying it has not only provided lessons learned about taking a more sustainable approach throughout the lifecycle of the product—from design to retirement—but has also helped the company and its suppliers develop more efficient products.
“The expertise that Bombardier developed through the publication of this EPD has become instrumental in the environmental life-cycle analysis of our continuous product innovation and improvement process,” the company said. “This science-based know-how will serve as a baseline to help develop similar environmental initiatives and will further help move the industry towards more transparent environmental communication.”
Through its assessment of factors such as CO2 emissions, recyclability rate, water scarcity, and renewable energy, Bombardier said it was able to design a Mach 0.925, 7,700-nm, four-zone business jet that emits 15 percent less CO2 than previous generation ultra-long-range aircraft.
European Regulators Need More Capacity for New Tech
The regulatory framework that exists in Europe for certification of new airframes, powerplants, and other aerospace technology is flexible enough to adapt to electric- and hydrogen-powered aircraft and other advanced air mobility (AAM) technologies. But it’s also a framework that needs additional regulatory capacity to keep pace with innovation, according to a panel of experts during an EBACE Connect seminar yesterday.
First and foremost, the panelists agreed, is that any new aviation technology undergoes the same level of safety scrutiny as any technology before it. “The regulations that are in place are on the one hand capable of both accommodating innovation [and] on the other hand ensuring that safety is being guaranteed,” said Joachim Lucking, the European Commission’s head of unit for aviation safety.
A good example of the accommodation of innovation is EASA’s type certification in June of Pipistrel’s Velis Electro two-seat trainer, Lucking added. “They have been able to certify the airplane despite the rules [that] were written in a pre-electric age,” he said.
Robert Dingemanse, PAL-V CEO and co-founder, said that “in general” EASA’s regulatory framework has accommodated his company’s development of the Liberty flying car. But “I think the main challenge we have, not the framework, is the capacity of the regulator side to really be able to deal with all these innovations,” he said.
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