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THE COMING BOOM IN LOW EMISSIONS REGIONAL AVIATION
In a 2021 presentation to Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Heart Aerospace CEO Anders Forslund showed a map of US communities that were served by small regional aircraft in 1994, but where air services have now gone.
For example, the ski resort of Steamboat Springs, Colorado has an airport that until 1997 had up to ten flights a day to Denver, Colorado.
Those flights are no more, and the airport is only served by private aircraft.
Meanwhile in Europe, France’s 150 regional airports (of which 84 are commercial) are wondering how they can survive long term post Covid and as there is a push to move people off regional flights and onto trains.
Turning to West Africa, there are reports of a private aviation resurgence as entrepreneurs find they need to use executive jets for business, given the road infrastructure and lack of good regional connectivity.
Private jets are of course expensive and have a big per passenger carbon footprint.
Next generation aircraft makers say they have a solution to these problems.
A group of emerging electric, hybrid and hydrogen-electric aircraft manufacturers promise to revitalise communities and connect them with larger transportation hubs with new, carbon neutral flights.
The reach and potential could be groundbreaking.
For example, Ampaire’s Kevin Noertker references NASA’s regional air mobility report (which he helped put together, and which we reference in the next section) in talking about 5000 smaller underutilised airports in the USA, which could be served by small carbon neutral aircraft.
As a result, at a time when authorities in some countries are trying to discourage short haul flights due to sustainability concerns, we actually could be on the brink of a new sub regional aviation boom, which sees more people fly than ever before.
Those flights will be sustainable, economical to run, and will bring real tangible benefits to communities.
The area of regional air mobility (RAM) in the United States was extensively covered in an April 2021 report by NASA.
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The report was produced in collaboration with a number of sustainable aviation company leaders including Kevin Noertker and Susan Ying of Ampaire, Roei Ganzarsk of magniX and Eviation (he now heads up software company Alitheon) and Bryan Lynch of Explorer Aircraft.
The crux of the report is that regional air mobility (RAM) is on the threshold of a renaissance due to the advent of new aircraft which are sustainable, cheaper to run and quieter.
As NASA says in its conclusion:
“The local airport you may not have even known existed will soon be a catalyst for change in how you travel. It will be a gateway from your doorstep to the rest of the world.
“It will be a hub for local, renewable energy. It will make sure that your community has rapid access to convenient commerce options and critical supplies. Best of all, it doesn’t rely on miraculous technology or infrastructure advancements - the groundwork is already in place.”
The report is obviously US-focused, but its findings are equally applicable to other areas of the world, and not just the Global North.
In fact, that is why we opened this report talking about the hypothetical example of Isiolo, Kenya, at the start of the next decade. Or not so hypothetical, as you could imagine that Kenya with its 60 airports and airstrips, would be one market for carbon neutral regional flights.