2023-06-23 06:30:27
Airbus has just formalized a record order for 500 A320 aircraft from the Indian company IndiGo, ahead of the Paris Air Show. This is good news for the aircraft manufacturer, which must simultaneously ramp up its production and develop devices that will enable the sector to reduce its carbon footprint.
This is a new record announced during the2023 edition of the Paris Air Show. The European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has just recorded a order for 500 A320 single-aisle aircraft. All for an amount of more than 55 billion euros, an absolute record for an airline. These planes, which must be delivered by 2035, illustrate the massive rebound in air traffic, after the unprecedented crisis due to the global coronavirus epidemic.
Thus, according to the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation, EUROCONTROLEuropean air traffic returns to 83% of its pre-COVID level in 2022, which is a solid recovery, given the weak economic recovery and the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine. This growth particularly benefits low-cost airlineswhose rebound is greater than for traditional companies.
While this mega-order concerns kerosene-powered planes, the 2023 edition of the Paris Air Show, back after a four-year absence, gives pride of place to the decarbonization of aviation, a sector which has set itself the ambition of neutrality. carbon by 2050. Airbus and aircraft manufacturers around the world must therefore ramp up the production of conventional aircraft to ensure their economic growth and the expected increase in the number of travelers in the years to come. This increase will force Airbus and Boeing, the two global giants, to double their aircraft fleet in the next ten years. Alongside this ramp-up, it is imperative for players in the aviation sector to develop technical and technological solutions to limit the footprint of aviation – which represents less than 3% of GHG emissions worldwide -, and make it zero for 2050.
Hydrogen is less popular
One track, which the experts are talking about a lot at the Paris Air Show, is the possibility of equipping aircraft with electrical assistance, to allow aircraft to save fuel, especially when they are on the track, by waiting to take off. This expectation has increased, especially since the end of the health crisis, and the delays force planes to park longer on the runways, engines running. These disruptions are also a source of concern, as they could limit traffic growth in the years to come. The main cause of these repeated delays is the lack of staff at airports.
The electric taxiingthis is the name of this technology, would save up to 5% of fuel.
To achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, much more will have to be done. At the Paris Air Show, manufacturers presented many innovations that should contribute to this development: electric aircraft, hydrogen aircraft, biofuels… if it is difficult to imagine today what technological solutions will actually be put in place on a large scale to achieve carbon neutrality, it should be noted that hydrogen seems less attractive to aircraft manufacturers Today. Indeed, the constraints that the use of this molecule represents, particularly in terms of tank capacity and low-temperature storage, requires a complete rethinking of current aircraft. Electric planes have many advantages, but their passenger capacity is reduced. All this leads to biofuels. The latter have the advantage of being able to be used without modifying the aircraft, if they do not exceed 50% of the fuel. Today, Europe forces planes to fly with at minimum 1% biofuel in their tanks. This figure is expected to increase to 6% in 2030. It also costs four times more than kerosene at the moment. A relatively weak incentive therefore, for a technology that seems to be the only really credible one today, given the timing that the aviation sector has imposed on itself to achieve carbon neutrality. This solution would also have the merit of allowing the aviation giants to convert the huge global fleet that they are building up.
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