How the aviation industry strives to become more sustainable

DW (English)

Air traffic has been growing rapidly again despite its huge carbon footprint. Now several startups are developing electric planes for short-haul routes and want to convert existing aircraft from kerosene to hydrogen.

Transcript

00:00Meet Alice, the world's first commercial electric airplane, seen here during its maiden flight in late 2022.

00:09For Florian Kruse, these images mark a milestone in aviation.

00:14Back then, the idea of flying sustainably was often ridiculed.

00:19Two years later, concepts for electric aircraft engines and hydrogen-powered propulsion systems

00:26can be seen everywhere at the Farnborough Air Show, one of the world's most important aviation exhibitions.

00:33But Kruse says this is all not enough to make climate-friendly flying a reality.

00:40We don't need only operators or OEMs that build sustainable aircraft, hydrogen or electric.

00:48We need also the infrastructure on the ground at the airport, and that's a really big challenge, to be honest.

00:55Because if you see electric systems on airport, you are not able to charge an electric height, an electric aircraft,

01:01because there is not enough power.

01:03The entrepreneur from the northern German city of Bremen wants to connect small airports in Scandinavia,

01:10Italy, Germany and other European countries with a sustainable regional airline for business travelers.

01:17In between runways, he wants to build and operate solar parks with up to 50 megawatts of power.

01:24The electricity will be used to charge the batteries of electric planes and to produce green hydrogen on site.

01:31Kruse envisions a completely sustainable cycle.

01:36At the moment, we have five contracts with airports.

01:40We start with Finland, Helsinki East will be one of our first projects with a 50-megawatt park.

01:45That's really huge, to be honest.

01:48Then we have projects in Bulgaria and Romania, between 20 and 50 megawatts.

01:53And the first one, where we have yet the building permission, will be in Germany, in Saxonia.

01:59The airport in Groningen gave Kruse the initial spark.

02:03Some years ago, the operators conducted studies to see if solar panels next to runways were feasible,

02:10examining whether dangerous light reflections could disturb pilots or if there could be issues with wind or fire safety.

02:19Kruse was the first to take an interest in these findings, which led him to plan projects across Europe.

02:27We actually see a lot of interest from other airports in the whole world.

02:34We've been getting visitors from South America, from Sweden, from Germany, from Singapore, everywhere actually,

02:41because it's very unique and it offers a lot of possibilities, opportunities for the future.

02:49Kruse has now ordered 25 Alice electric airplanes from US manufacturer Eviation.

02:56He's currently planning to add 15 British nine-seaters converted from kerosene to hydrogen propulsion.

03:03By the time the aircrafts are delivered in 2027, he hopes that his airport's solar parks will also be up and running.

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