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Eve Air Mobility has announced the completion of its urban air traffic management (UATM) prototype.

The electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and urban air mobility (UAM) infrastructure developer, which is a subsidiary of Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer, says that the prototype focuses on the concepts and services that are essential to supporting the introduction and scalability of UAM operations.

The UATM prototype was initially tested during Eve’s Chicago Simulation Experience last Autumn.

The simulation, which used helicopters as a substitute for eVTOLs, performed tests of UATM technology in combination with simulating ground services, infrastructure and equipment requirements, and vehicle and passenger journeys.

Eve says that the feedback from the simulation was vital in order to advance the development of its commercial UATM solutions.

Together with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), German airline Lufthansa is transforming an Airbus A350-900 into a climate research aircraft, from 2024.

For the first time, scientists from the Lufthansa Group successfully tested the measuring probe system in flight after attaching it to the bottom fuselage of the A350. In the airspace above southern Germany, Lufthansa pilots finished a flight programme planned with the certification authorities.

Following this will be routine passenger flights in 2024 and the Airbus will gather thorough climatic data for the European research infrastructure IAGOS-CARIBIC.

The Lufthansa company has been committed to climate research since 1994 and has since equipped several long-haul aircraft with special measuring instruments, which include the IAGOS-CARIBIC.

Boeing will expand its ecoDemonstrator flight-test programme with the use of “Explorer” aeroplanes to explore a range of new technologies. 

The aerospace company will use the Boeing 777 ecoDemonstrator to assess 19 technologies in 2023 whilst utilising a range of Explorer planes to test specific ideas and innovations. 

Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO and president Stan Deal claimed that exploring new technology with the programme will help the company to aid the aircraft industry’s goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

First launched in 2012, the ecoDemonstrator programme will have tested nearly 250 technologies by the end of the 2023 plan with about a third of those tested being progressed to the company’s wider products and services. 

ZeroAvia has partnered with Liquid Hydrogen (LH_₂) transportation company Absolut Hydrogen in order to explore LH_₂ production, storage, and refuelling.

The development of robust airport infrastructure will lead to the powering of up to 80-seat capacity aircraft by 2027.

Liquefaction and liquid hydrogen storage will be built for airports to explore technology developments, concepts of operations, safety procedures, and standards for larger-scale deliveries of LH_₂ to aircraft.

Absolut Hydrogen has experience in developing LH_₂ systems for heavy-duty mobility for aeronautical, maritime, and land applications.

The company will offer a full LH_₂ product range, including an entry small-scale hydrogen liquefaction system (<50 kg/day), a 100 kg/day Turbo-Brayton-based Hydrogen liquefier, and a 1 tonne/day liquefier.

ZeroAvia’s first certified powertrains for up to 19-seat aircraft are expected to be powered by gaseous hydrogen.

The Jet Zero Council has announced an action plan for the next two years to reach net zero in UK aviation by 2050. 

The plan sets out how the council, which is comprised of industry, academic, and government leaders, will help to accelerate the production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) by investing in first-of-a-kind SAF plants, supporting scientific research on a larger scale, and helping to drive down production costs.

The announcement comes in tandem with the publication of a new report, called ‘Developing a UK SAF industry’. The independent evaluation – commissioned by the Department for Transport in October 2022 – assesses what conditions are necessary to create a successful UK SAF industry.

The report, written by Philip New, former CEO of the Energy Systems Catapult and BP Alternative Energy, sets out a number of recommendations to help stimulate SAF production in the UK.

The existing Jet Zero Strategy sets out how the country can achieve net zero emissions from UK aviation by 2050 and the £165m Advanced Fuel Fund is also kickstarting production, with five projects already chosen to receive funding.