AAM_Tech_Developments

By Graham Warwick
On the heels of listing publicly, startup Amprius has signed a 3-year agreement to supply its high-energy-density batteries to BA Systems’ Air business for use in electrically powered flight applications.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Victoria Moores
Lufthansa Technik has converted a decommissioned Airbus A320 into a hydrogen field laboratory to test maintenance and ground-based processes in preparation for hydrogen-powered flight.
Sustainability

By Graham Warwick, Chen Chuanren
Another design has been added to the list of large uncrewed cargo aircraft under development in China, with Sichuan Tengden Science & Technology conducting the first flight of its Twin-Tailed Scorpion D on Oct. 25.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Graham Warwick
Embraer has joined Bombardier in providing its vision of a business jet of the future, with sustainability as a central tenet of their designs.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Graham Warwick
Monte Aircraft Leasing has placed a firm order with hybrid-electric propulsion startup Ampaire for 25 Eco Caravans with an option for an additional 25 of the converted Cessna Grand Caravans.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Graham Warwick
Chinese electric vehicle maker XPeng has unveiled a revised design for its planned fly/drive electric vertical takeoff and landing “flying car.”
Advanced Air Mobility

By Garrett Reim
The initial flight will be “very short” and will set the stage for a series of follow-on flight tests of the fixed-wing demonstrator.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Guy Norris
Targeted at certification in 2027, the nine-passenger aircraft will incorporate a distributed electric propulsion system.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Guy Norris
Across battery-, hybrid- and hydrogen-electric powertrains, the development of sustainable aircraft propulsion is evolving rapidly.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Garrett Reim
South Korea’s Pablo Air has been contracted by NASA to use one of its multicopters to measure wind speed in urban airspace, part of a larger effort to study urban weather for advanced air mobility.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Graham Warwick
Electric propulsion pioneer MagniX is expanding into the development of hydrogen fuel cells for 50-90-passenger airliners.
Emerging Technologies

By Graham Warwick
The UK government is offering £10 million ($11.2 million) in funding for net-zero propulsion projects under a competition aimed at all transportation sectors including aviation.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Graham Warwick
Flying car is a frequent misnomer for electric air taxis, but in the case of Alef Aeronautics’ Model A the term is a correct, if inadequate, description given the unconventional approach the startup has taken to designing a vehicle that can take off and land vertically as well as drive on the road.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Garrett Reim
BAE Systems is to develop the flight computer for Supernal’s electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
NBAA

By Graham Warwick
Swiss International Air Lines has become the first carrier to deploy drag-reducing riblet technology on passenger services, with the Oct. 14 Zurich-Miami flight of a Boeing 777-300ER with AeroShark film applied to its fuselage and engine nacelles.
Air Transport

By Graham Warwick
Honeywell has continued its penetration into the advanced air mobility market with the Anthem flight deck, announcing an agreement with Supernal to explore integration of the cloud-connected cockpit avionics system into the Hyundai subsidiary’s planned electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxi.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Graham Warwick
Energy management company KULR Technology Group has acquired a vibration reduction capability originally developed to balance helicopter rotors that it plans to expand to “anything that spins,” from electric motors to wind turbines.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Graham Warwick
China’s XPeng AeroHT has completed the first public flight of its fifth-generation X2 electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, in Dubai, as it prepares to release details of its planned sixth-generation fly/drive vehicle.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Graham Warwick
United Airlines has provided a glimpse of how it expects its sustainability plays to change the carrier’s fleet makeup by 2030, with its first electric-powered aircraft planned to be in service by then.
Airlines & Lessors

By Graham Warwick
Sweden’s Heart Aerospace may have moved up to 30 seats to increase the appeal of its planned electric regional airliner, but French startup Aura Aero continues to pursue a 19-seater and has announced letters of intent for another 130 aircraft, taking the total to more than 330.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Graham Warwick
South Korean telecommunications provider KT has completed the country’s first 5G wireless network dedicated to urban air mobility.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Garrett Reim
Regent and TotalEnergies plan to explore the use of an electric seaglider to support the operations of offshore energy platforms such as oil rigs and wind turbines. The two companies plan to develop requirements and validate using one of Regent’s seagliders for offshore operations support, Regent said Sept. 30.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Graham Warwick
Five startups emerged as winners from the pitch-style final of an urban air mobility innovation challenge sponsored by the Vertical Lift Consortium, a collaboration that supports the Defense Department.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Graham Warwick
An electric four-seat aircraft developed by students at Switzerland’s ETH Zurich research university made its first flight on Sept. 30 in Dubendorf.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Graham Warwick
Already planning to develop an autonomous hydrogen-fueled air and road vehicle and associated landing and refueling infrastructure, U.S. startup LuftCar has announced plans to develop a fuel-cell/battery hybrid propulsion system for the advanced air mobility market.
Advanced Air Mobility