Bombardier is offering a glimpse at what it thinks could be the future of business jets: a blended-wing body design that forms a key part of its new Eco Jet sustainability initiative. Today at EBACE 2022, the Canadian airframer revealed a small-scale model it has been using for extensive flight and wind-tunnel testing as it seeks to refine the technology it views as integral to its long-term product strategy.
In the shorter-term, the company (Booth Z117, Static AD_15) is also employing this model as a testbed for improvements that could be introduced more incrementally to existing aircraft.
While details of the development are still very much in the works or under wraps, Benoit Breault, Bombardier’s director of research and technology, told AIN that the blended-wing concept is “a key part of our strategic thinking.” The company’s engineering brain-trust sees the aerodynamic improvements promised by the new wing as being one of three pillars to support its ambitions to reduce business aviation's carbon emissions. Switching to using sustainable aviation fuel and adopting propulsion systems with hydrogen, hybrid-electric, and all-electric power sources round out the other two pillars.
For now, Bombardier remains agnostic about what direction it might take for the propulsion system of a next-generation business jet. Breault indicated the company is in talks with several engine manufacturers about how the blended-wing architecture might accommodate next-generation propulsion systems.
Airbus has opened the ACJ TwoTwenty creative studio at its headquarters location in Toulouse, France. Adjacent to the fuselage mockups for every Airbus model in Toulouse, the creative studio is designed to help buyers finalize the interior configuration and materials and equipment choices for their new ACJ TwoTwenty.
The development of the creative studio stemmed from discussions among ACJ team members and customers as well as completions center Comlux Group. Because there are not yet any fully completed ACJ TwoTwenty demonstrators available, according to Chadi Saade, Airbus Corporate Jets vice president commercial, the company needed a way to help customers visualize the airplane’s expansive cabin and decide on how they want it outfitted.
TwoTwenty buyers begin by choosing a configuration for each of the six zones and then selecting from hundreds of fabric, carpet, wood veneer, and plated metal finishing options.
During their visit to the creative studio, buyers can see what their layout looks like in a full-size projection of the cabin on the floor of the studio. After donning a virtual reality headset, the customer can not only walk through and view the layout in 3D but also see and compare materials and lighting effects. To help get started, customers can select from three optional cabin designs or a special Cyril Kongo edition.
While anticipating that new and preowned aircraft deliveries will soften this year, business aviation financier Global Jet Capital (GJC) is forecasting that the market will combine for $186.8 billion in total transaction volume between 2022 and 2026, averaging a 5.1 percent annual growth rate over that time. That marks a significant jump from the inaugural business jet forecast it released 11 months ago that called for a $162.1 billion market through 2025.
Releasing its five-year Business Jet Market Forecast during EBACE this year, GJC sees a healthy industry poised for sustained growth. In 2022, combined new and preowned transaction volume is expected to dip by 8 percent, taking “a step back from all-time high volume seen in 2021,” according to the forecast. But dollar volume, led by demand for larger aircraft, will edge up by 3 percent.
This decline in transactions is led by the preowned market, in which transactions are forecast to slide by 11 percent and dollar volume by 10 percent. Offsetting that, new deliveries are forecast to increase by 7 percent and dollar volume by 16 percent this year.
GJC sees manufacturers boosting production over the next few years with new deliveries staged for a compound annual growth rate of just over 4 percent and associated dollar volume coming in at a compound annual gross rate of less than 8 percent over the forecast period.
GE Aviation unit Avio Aero has continued to progress toward certifying its new Catalyst turboprop engine, completing almost 50 percent of certification testing, involving more than 800 hours. The engine has achieved more than 3,000 hours of combined operations in all, Avio Aero reported. The company has assembled 19 engines and delivered three flightworthy engines to Textron Aviation for its new Beechcraft Denali single-engine turboprop. On March 25, Airbus announced that it had selected the engine for its new Eurodrone unmanned aerial vehicle.
The engine made its first flight on Sept. 30, 2021, aboard a King Air testbed at the Berlin Airport and was flown for the first time on the Denali on Nov. 23, 2021.
The Catalyst is a clean-sheet design in the 850- to 1,600-shp range made from technologies produced in Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland.
The engine is equipped with fadec and single-lever engine and propeller control. It has achieved 41,000 feet in an altitude chamber. Features include a 16:1 overall pressure ratio, enabling the engine to deliver up to 20 percent lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, and 10 percent higher cruise power compared with competitor offerings in the same size class.
The engine is suitable for applications including hybrid-electric or electric transport applications. It is further progressing toward a goal of demonstrating running on 100 percent SAF within the next months.
Piaggio Aerospace is laying plans for a possible hydrogen-electric business aircraft featuring a completely new airframe. Chief technology officer Antonio Sollo told attendees at Climate Transformed’s green aviation webinar shortly before EBACE 2022 that the company has evaluated possible battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell propulsion systems for its existing P.180 Avanti Evo turboprop twin. However, the company has concluded it would not be commercially viable to convert this airplane to such propulsion systems—at least in the near term.
In preparing a technology development plan from 2023 to 2027, Piaggio’s engineering team looked at various medium-term options covering hybrid- and full-electric versions of the Avanti. It concluded that, based on projected improvements in battery technology, for the so-called eP.180 to be able to carry four passengers and two pilots on missions of around 300 nm, the aircraft’s maximum takeoff weight would have to increase significantly—from 12,100 pounds to 16,200 pounds.
Piaggio also looked at how it might adopt a hydrogen-electric powertrain for the P.180 by adding liquid hydrogen fuel tanks on the front side of the wing in place of standard engine nacelles. For the same 300-nm range, the tanks would need to carry around 56 kg (123 pounds) of fuel.
Sollo confirmed that, all things considered, Piaggio believes it would be more productive to develop a completely new airframe to achieve the most potential from any new propulsion system.
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