The Future of Sustainable Aviation

We all know that air travel is one of the most contributing factors to climate change. While only accounting for 2-4% of carbon emissions worldwide, air traffic still makes a significant impact on carbon emissions. While companies like airbus and Boeing have significantly increased fuel efficiency with their newer A350 and 787, they are still burning lots of carbon each flight. 

Airbus has been one of the first major companies to invest into fully sustainable aviation, announcing their ZeroE program in September 2020. The initial image, shown below, shows the three concepts they came up with. The image generated mixed reactions from social media, due to the unusual and unseen shape of aircraft before, although it was definitely a step in the right direction

These 3 aircraft are planned to be powered by hydrogen and Airbus plan to bring these aircraft into the market by 2035. They will be the world’s first ever aircraft powered by hydrogen, and 100% electric, burning zero emissions. While this is not confirmed and still a concept, it is definitely a step in the right direction.

The reason for the mixed reactions is because the wings are much smaller, because there is no need for fuel tanks in the wings, giving them a very unusual shape that is not seen on previous aircraft. Other companies have also stepped in and started to test electric aircraft, such as Eviation, magniX, Pipistrel, Ampaire, Bye Aerospace and Zunum Aero. Another advantage of electric air travel is noise pollution from air traffic will be significantly lower. Some airlines are also offering flight options with less emissions as of today, using newer, fuel efficient aircraft. Progress is already being made, and a lot more is expected to be made in the future.