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BAE Systems, a leading aerospace and defense company, and Heart Aerospace, a Swedish electric airplane maker, announced a collaboration to define the battery system for Heart’s ES-30 regional electric airplane.  The battery will be the first-of-its-kind to be integrated into an electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) regional aircraft, allowing it to efficiently operate with zero emissions and low noise. 
“Our industry-leading solution builds on decades of expertise delivering technologies and systems needed to progress sustainable transportation,” said Ehtisham Siddiqui, vice president and general manager of Controls and Avionics Solutions at BAE Systems. “We are delighted to collaborate with Heart Aerospace on the innovative battery system for its electric airplane.”
The program will leverage more than 25 years of BAE Systems’ expertise in electrifying large, heavy-duty industrial vehicles. Today, the company has over 15,000 power and propulsion systems operating in service across the globe. Work on the program will be conducted at the company’s state-of-the-art facility in Endicott, New York. 
“BAE Systems’ extensive experience in developing batteries for heavy-duty ground applications, and their experience in developing safety critical control systems for aerospace, make them an ideal partner in this important next step for the ES-30 and for the aviation industry,” said Sofia Graflund, chief operating officer at Heart Aerospace. “We look forward to decarbonizing air travel together.”
The ES-30 airplane will be powered by four electric motors, and has an all-electric range of 200 kilometers, an extended reserve hybrid range of 400 kilometers with 30 passengers and ability to fly up to 800 kilometers with 25 passengers.  ADVERTISEMENTThe ES-30 will also have a cost-effective and scalable upgrade path as future battery technology matures. The battery upgrade roadmap allows for increased usable energy at the same weight, resulting in longer flight durations and expanded route options. 
Heart Aerospace has a total of 230 orders and 100 options for the ES-30, along with letter of intent for an additional 108 airplanes.

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Alaska Airlines has announced an agreement with Shell Aviation to expand the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) market beyond a standard fuel supply agreement
The innovative cross-industry collaboration brings together a world-class fuel supply chain and the fifth-largest domestic carrier to procure and use sustainable fuel, while working together to define and tackle what it will take to advance SAF technology, development, infrastructure and investment.“Alaska Airlines has set our course to net zero by 2040 and sustainable aviation fuels represent the greatest near-term opportunity to make a step-level change on that journey,” said Diana Birkett Rakow, senior vice president for public affairs and sustainability at Alaska. “That’s why we’ve pioneered SAF technologies for more than a decade. But we can’t scale the market alone. We’re excited to take this next step in the journey with Shell, to leverage their deep knowledge of the energy industry, its infrastructure requirements and supply chain to make lower lifecycle carbon SAF more widely available for the future.”
Details of the agreement include commitments to deepen understanding of the technology, infrastructure, carbon accounting systems and public policy support needed to bring SAF to more markets, in greater quantities and at a more sustainable long-term cost. The companies will put particular focus on enabling supply to the West Coast and alleviating fueling infrastructure challenges in the Pacific Northwest. Shell Aviation will also supply up to 10 million gallons of neat SAF to Alaska Airlines at their hub in Los Angeles.
“We’re excited to expand our strong relationship with Alaska and amplify our efforts to help decarbonize aviation through SAF supply on the West Coast and in the Pacific Northwest,” said Jan Toschka, president of Shell Aviation. “We need support from the entire ecosystem to build a sustainable future for aviation. This deep level of collaboration will help us put the technologies and supply chain in place to advance the industry.”
Both Alaska Airlines and Shell Aviation share an ambition to help scale the SAF market by concurrently addressing cost and volume through multiple strategies to grow availability and commercial viability of SAF.ADVERTISEMENT“With Shell’s world-class fuel supply chain and deep technical knowledge, we’re aiming to transform West Coast fuel supply,” said Ann Ardizzone, vice president of strategic sourcing and supply chain management at Alaska Airlines. “By leveraging the fuel infrastructure expertise of a major fuel producer, we can advance SAF access in more markets, accelerating the market scale of SAF to reach our environmental goals.”
SAF is a safe, certified drop-in fuel that meets the jet fuel standards to reduce carbon emissions by as much as 80% of lifecycle emissions.
Learn more about Alaska Airlines efforts to reduce its climate impact and go net zero by 2040 at news.alaskaair.com/collection/planet.

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Hawaiian Airlines today announced that it has reached an agreement with biofuel company Gevo, Inc. to purchase 50 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) over five years. Gevo expects to supply the SAF from a facility to be constructed in the Midwestern United States and begin deliveries to Hawaiian’s gateway cities in California starting in 2029.
“This offtake agreement gets us one step closer to achieving our goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” said Peter Ingram, Hawaiian’s president and CEO. “We intend to continue to invest in SAF, which will be pivotal in reducing our impact on the environment.”
“Gevo is pleased to welcome Hawaiian Airlines to our customer family of airlines that are working hard to achieve their net zero goals,” said Gevo CEO Dr. Patrick Gruber. “By counting all of the carbon, analyzed using Argonne’s GREET (Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation) method, we are working to help airlines realize these goals.”
Argonne National Laboratory’s GREET model measures the greenhouse gas life cycle impacts of fuels, from feedstock to production through combustion.
Gevo will produce SAF using residual starch from inedible field corn, grown using regenerative farming practices. The production process also will utilize renewable electricity and renewable natural gas, resulting in low-carbon fuels with substantially reduced carbon intensity (the level of greenhouse gas emissions compared to standard petroleum fossil-based fuels across their life cycle). Gevo’s process is designed to maximize value and minimize waste by using the same acre of farmland to produce both animal feed and renewable fuels while sequestering atmospheric carbon through photosynthesis.ADVERTISEMENTThe fuel sales agreement is subject to certain conditions precedent, including Gevo developing, financing, and constructing the facility to produce the SAF contemplated by the agreement.
Hawaiian has launched several sustainability initiatives in recent years including a partnership with Par Hawaii, the state’s largest provider of energy products, to study the commercial viability of producing SAF in Hawaiʻi. 

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Finnair is increasing the use of sustainable aviation fuel as part of its goal to reduce carbon emissions from flying. Finnair has purchased 750 tons of sustainable aviation fuel from its partner Neste for use on flights departing from Helsinki Airport.
Finnair’s customers are also involved in reducing carbon dioxide emissions from flights: a small part of the price of each flight ticket is directed to the costs of using sustainable aviation fuel.
Finnair aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045, and sustainable aviation fuel is one of the most essential tools for reducing air travel emissions in the coming years. Using Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80%* over the fuel’s life cycle compared to using fossil jet fuel. The fuel volume now purchased is Finnair’s largest single batch of sustainable aviation fuel purchased to date. The SAF will be delivered by Neste to Helsinki Airport in early 2023. The 750 tons of SAF corresponds to approximately 400 flights between Helsinki and Stockholm using unblended, 100% SAF.
“Finnair celebrates its 100th anniversary this year and reducing emissions from flying is essential to a sustainable future. In the coming years, sustainable aviation fuel will be one of the most important tools for reducing aviation-related emissions. We also involve our customers in this, and a small part of every flight ticket sold goes to the cost of sustainable aviation fuel,” says Eveliina Huurre, Finnair’s SVP, Sustainability. “In addition, customers can reduce the emissions of flying by using our carbon offsetting service, which combines SAF purchases and certified offsetting projects.”
“Finnair was one of the first airlines using our Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel and we have been working together for a long time,” says Jonathan Wood, Vice President Commercial and Technical Development, Renewable Aviation at Neste. “SAF is the most effective tool currently available to reduce the emissions of air travel and it is great to see Finnair taking the initiative to voluntarily purchase our SAF as part of their sustainability commitments and creating awareness among their customers on how these can play a role in creating a more sustainable future for aviation, too”ADVERTISEMENTIncreasing the use of SAF will increase the airline’s costs, as SAF is clearly more expensive than fossil fuel. Finnair is preparing for this by allocating a small portion of each flight ticket sold, about 20 cents per ticket, to the cost of sustainable aviation fuel. This share may be higher in the future as the operating obligations imposed on airlines increase the use of SAF.
Finnair also encourages its customers to reduce the carbon emissions of their flights through their actions: since spring 2022, Finnair has offered its customers the opportunity to reduce the emissions of flying by combining sustainable aviation fuels and certified emission reduction projects. The service operates on the website of Finnair’s partner Chooose.
Sustainable aviation fuel
SAF is a renewable aviation fuel providing a more sustainable alternative to conventional, fossil-based jet fuel. Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel is produced from sustainably sourced, 100% renewable waste and residue raw materials, including used cooking oil and animal fat waste. Finnair is committed to the oneworld alliance’s aspiration of using 10% sustainable aviation fuel by 2030 and will also participate in oneworld’s joint procurements in 2025-2032. The use of SAF will also be increased due to the upcoming EU obligation to use SAF.

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Cirium, the aviation analytics leader, has launched the aviation industry’s first Airline Routes tool to identify actual flights flown by aircraft type.
It uses applied analytics to derive routes flown by airlines based on satellite-based flight tracking and fuses this with advanced fleet data.
The new premium Routes tool is part of Ascend Profiles, a visual descriptive analytics tool which enables businesses to quickly view aircraft intelligence by airline or lessor.
Businesses such as aircraft lessors, banks or aircraft manufacturers are empowered to identify the aircraft flown by route for 1,700 airlines and factor development opportunities or risk into their decision making.
By leveraging satellite-based flight tracking data the tool identifies what routes and aircraft airlines actually flew rather than what they planned to fly, providing the most accurate flight completion picture.ADVERTISEMENT
Kevin Hightower, Cirium VP of Product, said: “The Airline Routes tool is the first of its kind to bring together such advanced data – the satellite-based flight tracking and the comprehensive fleet data – meaning businesses can conduct quick yet accurate due diligence on an airline portfolio.
“Understanding which aircraft an airline is actually flying and on what routes is critical to identify where aircraft demand may be and whether an airline is growing or reducing their network.”
India is one of the markets in the spotlight currently, as air travel is helping to boost economic growth in the region. Low-cost-carrier, IndiGo, recently announced it was looking to grow its international network and further solidify its domestic operations.
According to Ascend Profiles, IndiGo has a fleet of 306 aircraft – (273 in service and 33 in storage), plus 501 on order. Of the delivered fleet, 36% are on operating lease.
The Routes tool shows which two-way international routes IndiGo was operating this January which it was not in January 2022. For example, 172 flights were tracked on the newly added route between Indira-Gandhi International Airport in Delhi to Tribhuvan International in Kathmandu. All operated using Airbus A320s.
Additionally, the new tool shows the bi-directional routes for which IndiGo has ramped up operations. The carrier saw the most significant growth on the Singapore – Bengaluru route, where it completed 62 flights, all using A320s, this January versus only one flight, using an A321, last January.
IndiGo also substantially increased its operations this year on the Dubai – Ahmedabad route, completing five times the number of flights in Jan 23 when compared with Jan 22.
The Airline Routes tool is part of Ascend Profiles which visualizes aircraft intelligence of airline or lessor profiles and provides quick and accurate insights showing the latest 12-month year-over-year flights flown by an airline’s routes and can be viewed by flights, seats and ASKs.
The tool is available as a web-app on desktop, tablet, and mobile

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United wants to turn microalgae into SAF through the first new investment of its recently announced UAV Sustainable Flight FundSM since its launch: algae biofuel company Viridos. This $5 million investment will support the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from algae, an abundant and scalable resource that can be grown and harvested without impacting the food supply chain.
Viridos specializes in the bioengineering of microalgae and its proprietary technology accelerates the amount of oil that can produced from microalgae. This algae oil could then be used to scale the future production of SAF.
SAF is an alternative to conventional jet fuel that, on a lifecycle basis, reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with air travel compared to conventional jet fuel alone.¹ SAF is made from used cooking oil and agricultural waste, and, in the future, could be made from other feedstocks, including household trash, forest waste, or algae. To date, United has invested in the future production of over three billion gallons of SAF – the most of any airline in the world.²
“SAF is proven, scalable, and the best tool we have to reduce our carbon emissions from flying, but we face a significant shortage of available feedstock,” said United Airlines Ventures President Mike Leskinen. “As the global aviation leader in SAF production investment United remains committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions, without relying on traditional carbon offsets, by 2050. Viridos’ algae-based biofuel technology has the potential to help solve our supply problem without the need for farmland or other agricultural resources and marks our inaugural investment in our new cross-industry UAV Sustainable Flight Fund.”
Viridos, a biofuel company focused on decarbonizing industries, is leading the bioengineering of microalgae and has already achieved seven times the oil productivity compared to typical wild-type algae. This creates an opportunity for potentially scalable and more sustainable production of algae oil, that could later be used to produce SAF. Based on current estimates, SAF created by Viridos’ algae oil is expected to have a 70% reduced carbon footprint on a lifecycle basis when compared to traditional jet fuel.ADVERTISEMENTViridos’ bioengineering technology combines several important and unique attributes contributing to better scalability and sustainability compared with traditional jet fuel production:
Surface area oil productivities of Viridos algae far exceed any traditional oil crop, achieving high algae oil output on comparatively small areas.Viridos algae are grown in vessels containing seawater. This allows contained deployment in hot and dry locations without taxing scarce freshwater and arable land resources, while eliminating runoff.Viridos algae have extremely high oil contents facilitating downstream processing to algae oil.Viridos algae oil is a quality plant oil allowing existing bio-refineries to process the oil with high yield.“By establishing production sites to grow Viridos-engineered microalgae in saltwater, we are creating the foundation for a biofuel future that moves away from fossil fuels without competing for precious resources such as fresh water and arable land. We are excited to have the support from United Airlines. Together we can build the ecosystem needed to bring algae biofuels to the market,” said Oliver Fetzer, Viridos Chief Executive Officer.

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Sabre Corporation, a leading software and technology provider powering the global travel industry, and Royal Jordanian Airlines, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Jordan, announced the renewal and expansion of a long-term distribution and technology agreement to continue to distribute the carrier’s content through Sabre’s global distribution system (GDS) and to utilize Sabre’s leading technology to achieve its strategic goals.
Under the expanded agreement, Royal Jordanian will continue distributing its content to the large network of travel agents and corporations worldwide connected to Sabre’s GDS. Furthermore, the airline will be deploying a set of Sabre leading technology including Sabre’s Dynamic availability and Fares Manager and Fares Optimizer. The adoption of these products can help Royal Jordanian Airlines move toward a more flexible and modern environment, while supporting its growth.
“We have ambitious plans to double our fleet and operations within the coming 3-5 years and to position Royal Jordanian as the carrier of choice connecting Jordan and Levant with the world,” said Karim Makhlouf, chief commercial officer, Royal Jordanian.  “Our extended technology partnership with Sabre will help us deploy the most robust and advanced technology to enable our growth plans, help us drive profitability and improve our efficiency while staying on top of today’s ever-changing airline landscape. We are excited to continue partnering with Sabre at this exciting time.”
Dynamic Availability empowers airlines to gain better control of their pricing position by leveraging shopping data, automating fare changes, and enabling dynamic pricing capabilities to generate recommendations that help drive incremental revenue opportunities. Fares Manager and Fares Optimizer, on the other hand, brings integrated end-to-end automation and intelligence to airline pricing to increase analyst productivity and improve revenue opportunities.
“As a key building block for personalized retailing, our dynamic pricing engine enables airlines to optimize availability at scale and unlock greater value by maximizing revenue,” said Darren Rickey, senior vice president, airline sales, Sabre Travel Solutions. ” We are thrilled to expand our long-standing relationship with Royal Jordanian, one of the forward-thinking airlines in the Middle East region and help them deploy some of the industry-leading technology that brings broader possibilities and insightful information about their guests, so they can remain competitive and succeed in this ever-evolving industry.”ADVERTISEMENTSabre provides technology and consultancy services to more than 225 airlines, including most of the world’s largest carriers. Sabre’s broad suite of flexible and scalable software solutions allows airlines to operate how they want to and adapt their business to changing needs and requirements.  Most of the world’s largest carriers already use Sabre’s technology to address their biggest challenges – increasing revenue, minimizing costs and providing an enhanced travel experience.

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As part of the global airport industry response to the challenge of climate change, MATAR, the Qatar Company for Airport Operation and Management, successfully renewed its ACI Airport Carbon Accreditation Level-3 “Optimisation” for one more year.This successful recertification is a reassurance that the carbon management processes and activities implemented by Hamad International Airport (DOH) have effectively reduced CO2 emissions.
During the recertification process, MATAR was audited by independent 3rd party verifiers from August 2022 to October 2022, and then further verified by the independent scheme administrator WSP.
Commenting on the successful renewal, Mr. Michael Mcmillan, Senior Vice President Facilities Management said: “We are very proud to maintain this significant accreditation at the optimization level since 2017, acknowledging the efforts of the MATAR Teams and our stakeholders. Sustainability and Environment stewardship are strategic pillars at Hamad International Airport, as we continue our intension and ambition to demonstrate leadership within our industry and country – notably within our recent expansion project – where we achieved 4 star rating under The Gulf Organization for Research & Development (GORD) for reducing carbon footprint.”
Mr. Stefano Baronci, Director General of ACI Asia-Pacific, said: “The renewal of ACI Airport Carbon Accreditation reaffirms Hamad International Airport’s commitment towards sustainable practices to reduce environmental impact and emissions. Airports like Hamad International Airport are leading our industry on a path toward continued success in innovation and sustainability. This achievement demonstrates MATAR’s firm commitment to investing in a more sustainable future for aviation and the region it serves.”In collaboration with its stakeholders and partners, MATAR plays a vital role in monitoring, managing and reducing Hamad International Airport’s carbon emissions to fulfil the airport’s long-term environmental objectives of carbon emissions reduction by 30% by 2030 – driving for continuous environmental improvement and sustainability.
ACI Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) is an internationally recognized accreditation programme by Airports Council International (ACI) that sets out the world’s only institutionally-endorsed, international carbon management programme for airports. The accreditation offers a six-level certification that reflect incremental challenges in measuring, managing and improving carbon emissions.ADVERTISEMENTIn 2022, Hamad International Airport was once again named the World’s Best Airport for the second year in a row by the prestigious Skytrax awards. The airport was also named the Best Overall Airport and the Best Airport in the Middle East at the 19th Global Traveller Tested Reader Survey Awards.

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