Pan American World Airways Clipper flight 100…
…nears its destination
It’s an industry that has changed the world…
…and it’s now in crisis
But is this aviation’s moment for a green reset?
Covid has given an opportunity to build back green and faster
The technology race is on
There is absolutely opportunity for companies like us…
…to change the world here
But are the runners fit for purpose…
...and will sustainable air travel cost more?
Val Miftakhov is the CEO of a company…
…committed to sustainable aviation
Of course it’s exciting, every time we are testing something new
And today he’s test-flying a plane…
…that could potentially solve aviation’s biggest challenge
This is the world’s largest hydrogen-electric aircraft…
…flying right now
We hope for us achieving all the performance…
…that we expect to achieve
His vision—to fly without polluting the skies
Ok, let’s do it
Ok, let’s do the max
In this plane, hydrogen is being used in a fuel cell…
…to run an electric motor…
…producing zero-carbon emissions
Honestly, the only by-product of a fuel-cell operation is water
So water vapour gets out into the atmosphere…
…and it’s pretty harmless
Without decarbonising technologies like hydrogen…
…aviation could be responsible for 22%…
…of the planet’s emissions by 2050
Because it can pack more energy into a smaller space…
…hydrogen has recently overtaken electric batteries…
…as the front-runner in the race for cleaner flying
Within 15 years…
…the manufacturing giant, Airbus…
…plans to introduce planes that burn hydrogen in engines as fuel
And the EU believes that by 2050…
…hydrogen technologies could reduce…
…the industry’s carbon emissions by up to 75%
We actually looked early on at different ways…
…to bring sustainability to aviation
Hydrogen-electric is the most efficient…
…and likely to be the lowest cost out of all
But there are plenty of obstacles to overcome…
…before these hydrogen technologies…
…are commercially viable
For starters, installing the infrastructure…
…to distribute and produce hydrogen will be very pricey…
…at least $500bn by one estimate
What’s more, hydrogen will need to be produced sustainably…
…using renewable energy to split water molecules
And on top of that, hydrogen packs less energy…
…into a given volume than jet fuel…
…so powering long-haul flights will mean…
…extensive aircraft redesign
So you need bigger tanks…
…you need to change the shape of the aeroplane
And then within the engine…
…you need more sophisticated heat exchangers…
…to deal with the hydrogen coming through
Airlines are fighting for the future of their industry
The big problem for aviation…
…is that green technologies cost a lot of money…
…but there isn’t much to go around…
…as the industry faces the worst economic crisis in its history…
…and as environmental movements like “flight-shaming” are on the up
Some in aviation are committed to greener skies
It’s just they can’t do it on their own…
…according to one of Britain’s leading figures…
…on climate change and energy policy
I think the good news…
…is that the industry has really redoubled…
…its efforts to decarbonise
I think we are seeing many examples of leadership
But we may also need, you know, government support…
…in an environment where covid-19 has very clearly…
…hit the cashflows…
…of the big incumbent players…
…in a way which was not their fault
Even with governments’ help…
…it will take at least two decades…
…before hydrogen-powered planes are ready for take-off
To reduce emissions in the nearer term…
…aviation needs other options
And a front-runner has recently emerged
Since July, the right engine of this Airbus A321…
…has been powered by biofuel
Sustainable fuels are made from synthetic sources…
…or biological ones such as crops, algae…
…or even waste
One of the great benefits…
…of going down the sustainable-aviation-fuel…
…the biofuel or the synthetic-jet-fuel route…
…is that it’s a drop-in fuel…
…so that what happens at the airport doesn’t change
To pump up the flow of sustainable fuels…
…experts say governments need to offer incentives to airlines
That could mean rolling out taxes on dirty fuels…
…and making airlines buy a certain proportion of cleaner ones
We have this chicken-and-egg problem, as we call it…
…of aviation companies who say…
…we would love to buy sustainable-aviation fuel…
…if it was only 50% more expensive…
…than conventional jet fuel
But as long as it’s three times more expensive…
…this is prohibitively expensive…
…and you have people trying to develop…
…a sustainable-aviation-fuel technologies…
…who would say, we could get the price down…
…if only we had certainty of really big orders…
…by a particular date
And there’s another way…
…governments could speed up the shift to greener skies…
…stumping up investment funds
So that’s interesting
Just ask the CEO…
…who is trying to make hydrogen-powered planes take off
He says the $3.3m his company received…
…from the British government, has been crucial
He argues larger-scale investment from the state…
…as well as the private sector…
…is key to making green aviation viable
It’s very hard to make…
…the radically new technologies competitive commercially…
…without government support right from the beginning…
…especially when you’re in R&D phase…
…especially in such a capital-intense industry as aviation
Going green may be the biggest challenge…
…the industry has ever faced
It demands the right investment and policies…
…to support a range of technologies
And that might mean passengers need deeper pockets
It may be that there is a slight air-ticket premium
I think we should simply pay it
I think we should say this is what we have to pay…
…in order to have zero-carbon flight
I’m Simon Wright, industry editor at The Economist
If you’d like to read more about the future of aviation…
…click on the link opposite
If you’d like to watch more…
…of our Now & Next series…
…click on the other link
Thank you for watching…
…and don’t forget to subscribe