Ecojet? The smell of kerosene no longer?
 

https://www.theguardian.com/business...ectric-airline

I'm sure there are many people here who can give a considered, professional view of this; I have no idea but he's certainly been successful with Ecotricity.

On the other hand, I'm not sure a Twotter is ideal for a SOU-EDI service!

With the range quoted of 300 miles it will be doing well to make Southampton!

A second phase, 18 months later, will result in 70-seater planes capable of flying to Europe being introduced.

What aircraft will the 70 seater be ????

Isn't there work being done on the Dash-8?

He has posted on Twitter images of a Twin Otter, Dash 8 and 737 in the livery.

I heard him talking about this airline on talksport radio today. Not sure he mentioned hydrogen once, just that it was going to be electric, I suppose that sounds greener. But he also made it sound so simple, “just take the old combustion engines off and put the new ones on”, but where would all the hydrogen go surely it would be a huge job to retrofit. I thought hydrogen might be the next big fuel for cars which hasn’t happened yet, so hopefully he has some good success proving the concept

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/07...9580611108.jpg

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/07...9601157769.jpg

Wonder if BA might have something to say about the tail design as well.

"But Dale Vince’s Ecojet plane will run on kerosene-based fuel in 2024 to enable quick start to project"

They didn't have anything to say with Thai Orient, PM Air Tanker, or Sun Class wavy tails so I would doubt they’ll be interested.

Suspect we’ll hear no more about this for foreseeable, certainly not 2024. LM and EZY would have them for breakfast. Those travellers needing these sort of green credentials always tell us they use the train (or walk)

Even if they can make it physically feasible I can't see it being economically competitive.

Funny they show a full blown turbofan engine - that will be powered by electricity.
Somehow I'd think you'd want an electric motor if you're plan is to power it with electricity.
Nothing about how or where they plan to store all that H2 - or how they plan to isolate it from the SLF. Any reasonable method of carrying significant amounts of H2 would either be under very high pressure or cryogenic - both of which mean large spherical or cylindrical storage - it's not fitting in the wing or under the floor.
Sounds pretty pie-in-the-sky to me.

Interesting...
 

ZeroAvia have made quite good progress flying their Dornier 228 demo, and I think they have also flown a Dash 8 300, but they are definitely a long way from getting anything certified for the moment. That being said it definitely seems like a more feasible short term option than the battery conversions, and bespoke new EV aircraft designs.

Flying a Twin Otter from Edinburgh to Southampton seems very odd, regardless of the fuel. That must be a >2hr sector length, on an aircraft with no toilet(?) and no cabin service. This will be up against up to 5 daily Loganair flights, taking 1hr 20 on a considerably more comfy and better equipped E145, with cabin service. Choosing a 356mi (great circle) route when the electric aircraft will have an estimated range of 300mi...

Something like Southampton to Leeds may be a better bet - poor train connection, more feasible distance, currently unserved but has sustained high fares on small aircraft in the past (no guarantee of success of course...).

I would love to be proven wrong, but the mismatch of details with the first press release is not confidence inspiring, and seems a little surprising from a person who has extensive experience and some success in industry (albeit other industries).

Kerosene based fuel, ?? so kerosene then.

When Airbus produces an electric equivalent on an Airbus I will take note. Sadly it isn’t going to happen. As the world burns expanding aviation is making it worse. Maybe when there are mass food shortages people will take action.

There are quite a raft of regional airliners either being retrofitted with hydrogen fuel-cell-powered electric motors or complete clean-sheet designs under development now, especially in the 19-50+ seat market. However, take for example Universal Hydrogen's retrofitted ATR-72 and a good ten or so seats are replaced with containerised hydrogen tanks, so the revenue per seat mile will be somewhat diminished. Things like the Dornier 328eco are looking good (retains turbine engines but using alternative fuels), Heart Aerospace, Zero Avia and others, but can't imagine certification by 2025 and entry into service immediately thereafter. Also costs will be interesting - leasing an old Dash-8, ATR or Dornier, or perhaps say an old CRJ or EMB-145 is going to be a lot cheaper than anything new and/or expensively retrofitted. It's exciting to see, but perhaps people need to be a little more realistic on timescales?

Dale Vince is one of the main supports of Just Stop Oil, you know, the vicars etc who are blocking the roads around the capital.
So this current pie in the sky idea is about creating an argument / reason to ban oil extraction from the North Sea, rather than any real business case for green aircraft.

You can bet that now its all about sound bites that he and his cohort can shout at the cameras as a distraction to their ridiculous ill conceived plan to cripple parts of the UK economy.

Unless there is a massive breakthrough in battery technology, battery powered aircraft will never be viable for other than short hops - simply too much mass in the needed batteries. Similarly, the difficulties with H2 storage mean it's unlikely to ever be viable for other than short range operations.
Various methods of creating carbon neutral synthetic kerosene (e.g. biofuels) hold far more long term promise (my personal favorite is using algae as a feedstock for biofuels - raising algae can use existing waste products and takes only a small fraction of the area that corn/soy/etc. based biofuels require). All this stuff with batteries and H2 for anything other than short range is mainly political posturing and/or investment cons.

https://airline-management.com/2023/...rt-up-airline/

Seems a bit more credible than some?