EGYPTAIR News 24 MAY 2023

ءاعبرلاا 24/5/2023

Lufthansa to add four additional A350-900s to its fleet

The Lufthansa Group has announced that it has acquired four additional Airbus A350-900 long-haul aircraft for its fleet. The pre-owned aircraft, which previously saw operation with LATAM Airlines Brazil will be acquired from Deucalion Aviation Limited and delivered to the Lufthansa Group later this year.

Current A350 fleet

Lufthansa operates a fleet of over 700 aircraft, including the Airbus A350. The Cologne based airline currently operates 21 Airbus A350-900s and has ordered five more A350-900s and ten A350-1000s as recently as March 2023.

In total, Lufthansa holds 38 firm orders for this highly efficient Airbus long-haul aircraft, making it the world’s third-largest Airbus A350 customer. The Lufthansa A350 fleet consists of 21 aircraft, all of which are the A350-900 variant. The A350-900 is the longest variant of the A350 family and has a range of up to 15,000 kilometers.

Lufthansa utilises the A350 on its long-haul route network to destinations in North America, Asia, and South America.

About the A350

The A350 is a state-of-the-art aircraft that offers passengers a comfortable and luxurious travel experience.

The aircraft is equipped with lie-flat seats in business class and premium economy, and standard seats in economy. It features a modern in-flight entertainment system and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Lufthansa is committed to sustainability and the A350 plays an important role in the airline’s fleet renewal program. The A350 is more fuel-efficient than previous generation aircraft, which helps to reduce Lufthansa’s environmental impact. Some of the key features of the Lufthansa A350 fleet include:

Aircraft type: Airbus A350-900

Number of aircraft: 21

Range: Up to 15,000 kilometers

Seats:

Business class: 48

Premium economy: 21

Economy: 224

In-flight entertainment system: Panasonic eX3

Wi-Fi connectivity: Available

Fuel efficiency: Up to 25% more fuel-efficient than previous generation aircraft

First acquisition

Lufthansa started operating the Airbus A350 in 2016. The first A350-900 was delivered to the airline on February 18, 2016, and it entered service on March 1, 2016, on a flight from Frankfurt to Washington, D.C.

Since then, Lufthansa has received a total of 21 A350s, and it plans to operate a fleet of 53 A350s by 2025.

The A350 has played an important role in the airline’s fleet renewal program. Being more fuel-efficient than previous generation aircraft, its operation has assisted in reducing Lufthansa’s environmental impact.

Replacing the A340

The Airbus A350 replaced the Airbus A340 in Lufthansa’s fleet. The A340 was a four-engined widebody aircraft that was introduced in 1993. It was designed to compete with the Boeing 747 and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10.

The A340 was a popular aircraft with airlines, but it was eventually replaced by the more fuel-efficient A350.

Above: Lufthansa A340-300. Photo Credit: Konstantin von Wedelstaedt )GFDL 1.2 or GFDL 1.2(,

via Wikimedia Commons

The A350 is a more modern aircraft than the A340. It is equipped with new engines and a lighter airframe, contributing to its superior fuel efficiency. The A350 is also quieter and has a longer range than the A340. Lufthansa is one of several airlines that have replaced their A340s with A350s. The A350 is a popular aircraft with airlines because it offers a number of advantages over its predecessor.

As a ‘next generation’will aircraft, A350 is also quieter and has a longer range than the A340. These factors make the A350 a more cost-effective aircraft to operate, which is why airlines are choosing to replace their older aircraft with the A350.

Europeans Get Access to MedAire's Digital Assessment Kit

European aircraft operators can now use MedAire’s Digital Assessment Kit )DAK( to quickly assess the condition of passengers who become unwell during flights. The company this week announced that the equipment has earned the European Union’s CE approval, certifying that it meets safety, health, and environmental requirements.

The DAK consists of a blood pressure monitor cuff, 12-lead ECG recorder, digital glucometer, pulse oximeter, and contactless thermometer. According to MedAire president Bill Dolny, the equipment greatly improves the way medical emergencies are dealt with by allowing flight crew to transmit critical data to the company’s assistance centers immediately so that when they place calls to doctors on the ground they receive the right guidance as to how best to respond to the patient’s needs.

“From our experience, we know that the more information you have, the more accurate your assessment is,” explained Dr. Paolo Alves, MedAire’s global medical director of aviation health. “This is about how to collect data in a meaningful structured way and with the DAK we have refined the way assessments are done. We don’t need streaming data for that.”

Flight crews operate the DAK via an app that guides them through the process of collecting data. The equipment has features to help non-medical staff to get the best possible data in challenging circumstances, such as a large sticker pad for the ECG recorder that will get the information needed by physicians even if it is not applied in the perfect position on the patient’s chest. Meanwhile, MedAire announced last week that it expanded the business and general aviation desk at its London Assistance Center to provide the same level of support as it delivers from its Global Response Center in Phoenix. The company announced the upgrade on Thursday, saying it was done to meet increased demand from aircraft operators for support across different regions of the world and to take account of time zones.

The new desk in the UK capital will support business and general aviation customers with both medical and safety-related issues while they are traveling. This service includes on-demand access to aviation medical professionals and security experts. At EBACE, MedAire )Booth X42( is introducing two additional features for its MedAire360 safety information service. The new Airport Alert History feature now provides access to alerts dating back to 2015, identifying risk patterns, trends, and potential threats to help crew make the right decisions when traveling. The data spans more than 2,000 airports worldwide. The MedAire360 portal now also gives all users access to the My Routes feature that allows flight departments to input their flight plans to easily view all relevant alerts, incidents, and associated medical and security threats. My Routes connects the MedAire and International SOS data catalogs.

“We have 200 to 300 security professionals worldwide assessing risks all the time, and we make sure we give flight departments the information that is most relevant to them,” Dolny explained. “We have given security teams more tools to use, such as adding a flight-tracking tool to plot the path of a trip.”

Business Aviation Leading the Push for Decarbonization

Business aviation has long been the target of environmental protestors who say private jet travel is an unnecessary luxury that produces a significant amount of harmful greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. But the business aviation industry is actually leading the pack when it comes to decarbonization, according to a group of business jet OEM executives who gathered at an EBACE media luncheon on Monday for a panel discussion on sustainability.

In the push to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the broader aviation industry is working collaboratively to wean off of fossil fuel in favor of using sustainable aviation fuel )SAF(. But given that SAF is more expensive than regular jet fuel and is not available in most parts of the world, adopting the use of SAF at scale is proving to be a colossal challenge. This is especially so for the airline

industry, which accounts for about 2.5 percent of global carbon-dioxide emissions. “Business aviation has a big advantage in that we will be the first ones to operate at a huge level on SAF. Why? Because we and our customers are ready to pay a little bit more,” Airbus Corporate Jets president Benoit Defforge said during the panel discussion. He added that he believes flying less will not be the answer to the climate crisis because there will always be a need to transport people and goods. Mark Burns, president of Gulfstream Aerospace, echoed that sentiment. “Aviation is the engine for global commerce, and it has been for decades,” he said. “We really need to be a leader at this moment and prove that, in fact, we can solve or be part of the solution even though we are a fraction of the issue,” he said, referring to the fact that business aviation accounts for only about 0.04 percent of total emissions.

“While we’re under a lot of pressure right now, I think that one of the things we've proven as a group is that we solve problems,” Burns added. “We make airplanes better each and every day,” he said. New business aircraft today are about 33 percent more efficient than they were just a decade ago, he noted. And as aircraft OEMs continue to make new aircraft more efficient, they’re also working to educate their customers and operators about SAF, as well as offering incentives to encourage more people to consider using the alternative fuel through direct sales or book-and-claim programs.

Energy Suppliers Say They're Serious about Boosting SAF Use

Discussions about achieving aviation’s commitment to delivering net-zero carbon operations by 2050 are often shrouded in chicken-and-egg circular arguments. How can operators increase their use of sustainable aviation fuel )SAF( if sufficient supplies aren't available worldwide? How can SAF supplies increase if sufficient demand doesn't exist to justify significant investments in production and distribution infrastructure? At the Sustainable Skies conference in Farnborough, UK, last month, some air transport industry leaders pointed fingers at energy companies and governments for talking the talk on SAF while failing to walk the walk regarding the change they say they want to see. Several commentators pointed to unprecedented oil company profits bloated over the past 15 months courtesy of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, asking why the lion’s share of these aren’t being diverted into green aviation initiatives. In 2022, Shell invested $4.3 billion in low-carbon energy solutions, including SAF and hydrogen,—an 89 percent increase from the previous year. Last year, rival BP invested $4.9 billion in what it calls sustainability transition growth, which was up from $2.4 billion in 2021.

Fuel suppliers insist they are fully engaged in the drive for SAF to incrementally replace fossil fuels in aircraft. These efforts are reflected in the Sustainability Summit taking place at EBACE today and tomorrow.

“There has been notable progress in reducing the industry’s carbon footprint but there is a long road ahead,” acknowledged Sergio Nunez, Shell Aviation’s head of marketing and decarbonization. “Coming out of the pandemic, there has been a change in the discussion, with business travel generally now more in the spotlight. At least 5,000 companies have made public commitments on net-zero travel, and what they need to address this is a big task in which SAF can play a big role.”

BUSINESS AVIATION A TOUGH CUSTOMER FOR SAF SUPPLIERS

That said, the transition is far from straightforward, according to Air BP aviation sustainability advisor Sven Riede. “Overall, business aviation is in a more challenging position than other SAF customers due to their operational footprint,” he told AIN. “They fly to a lot of unplanned locations at short notice and so have a significantly higher location-to-volume ratio.”

This makes it hard for fuel suppliers to shape their SAF supply network to meet fuel uptake needs that are not as predictable as they are for airlines. “But if you look at the growth curve [in SAF use], it’s impressive and there is now more of an uptick,” Riede noted.

Part of Shell’s commitment to progress is the new biofuels manufacturing facility it is building in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, which Nunez said will be able to produce 820,000 tonnes of SAF and renewable diesel fuel from waste materials. The company )Booth J82( expects this facility to be operational in 2024.

Another of Shell’s green initiatives was the acquisition last year of EcoOils, which uses recycling technology to reduce waste going into the landfill to produce spent bleaching earth oil as a biofuel food stock to make low-carbon fuels, including SAF. The group has also invested in LanzaJet’s efforts to convert alcohol to SAF and also in integrated hydropyrolysis and hydroconversion techniques to convert organic waste into transportation fuels.

For now, though, aircraft operators wanting to burn more SAF in place of jet-A continue to pay heavy premiums and there seems to be little sign of this changing, with significant regional variations in price. Nunez told AIN that government mandates setting minimum levels of SAF supplies will be important in removing this disincentive. “We need globally aligned policy to move this space forward,” he commented. “On a global basis, we should have a 10 percent mandate [for the proportion of available SAF in the total aviation fuel supply] by 2030, and we also need policymakers to work on incentives that would help to give some price stability.”

GOVERNMENT MANDATES HELP COMPANIES DO THE RIGHT THING

Air BP )Booth N88( also sees government mandates to ensure specific proportions of SAF availability as helpful, with Riede pointing to directives already issued by countries such as Norway, Sweden, and France, alongside new incentives to expand production in the UK, the Netherlands, and the U.S. “This is more about demand aggregation,” he said. “Because otherwise it’s harder [to justify] putting infrastructure in place for small volumes. So the first step is to scale up demand and achieve a network effect that drives down auxiliary costs.”

Part of Shell’s response to this challenge is the Avelia book-and-claim platform that it launched in June 2022 with Accenture and American Express Global Business Travel to use blockchain technology to pay for SAF that they won’t burn in their own aircraft to claim environmental benefits associated with their own jet-A-fueled flying. “It allows operators to share the cost of SAF in a way that is not connected to the physical supply so that it is not reliant on the fuel that goes into an individual aircraft and avoids double counting [of the amount of carbon dioxide reduced in the process],” Nunez explained. “When you inject SAF into the [worldwide] network you can reduce life-cycle emissions by [up to] 80 percent.”

Shell is working with the Smart Freight Centre and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Transportation and Logistics to ensure that Avelia is based on credible carbon-accounting practices. It said the platform meets all the requirements of the internationally recognized SAF greenhouse gas emission accounting and insetting guidelines.

According to many estimates, SAF could account for 65 percent of global aviation fuel supplies by 2050. With an eye to closing the gap, Shell said, battery-electric and hydrogen propulsion must be viewed as part of the solution, but only on a gradual basis that will increase from the 2030s and into the 2040s due to limitations in aircraft range and payload. Shell is working with hydrogen propulsion innovator ZeroAvia to prepare the infrastructure to support planned flights in converted regional aircraft, such as the Dornier 228, from 2025.

BP’s investments include the ramping up of SAF production at its refineries at Castellón in Spain and Lingen in Germany using biogenic feedstocks and hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids techniques. These sites will also be used to manufacture hydrogen that could be used in aircraft for direct combustion and to run fuel cells, with additional output to come from a new site at Teesside in the UK. In March, the Castellón site delivered the first consignment of SAF meeting the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification standard. The company’s medium-term goal is to have a 20 percent share of the SAF market in 2030. In addition to more production, plans call for expanding the number of Air BP locations where the fuel is available from the current level of no more than 30 out of its 700 locations worldwide.

TotalEnergies Aviation )Booth X78( is also stepping up its SAF offering through a commitment to producing 1.5 million tonnes by 2030. The French energy group is making biofuels from waste and residues from sources such as animal fat and used cooking oil, as well as synthetic fuels.

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