The Introduction of Sustainable Aviation Fuels - Challenges and Options

The aviation industry is challenged to reduce its climate impact. The most promising strategy, at least in the short- to medium term, will be the introduction of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). These fuels feature substantially reduced carbon life-cycle emissions in comparison to fossil fuels. In Europe, a mandatory quota for the use of sustainable fuels will most likely be introduced, starting in the year 2025. The introduction of a blending mandate by governments and the European Commission is associated with a range of challenges. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the economics of climate change mitigation in aviation and the role SAFs can play. The economic issues associated with the introduction of SAFs are analyzed, with a particular focus on the European Commission’s proposal for a blending mandate. Several suggestions for improvement are discussed. Despite its relatively high costs, a key finding of the discussion is that SAFs will play an important role in the decarbonization of aviation

The Road to Sustainable Aviation Fuels - More Questions than Answers?

The presentation provides an overview on production pathways, costs and political instruments designed to promote the introduction of sustainable aviation fuels. The challenges associated with a ramp-up of production and blending mandates are outlined. Finally, a brief comparison of the overall efficiency of different energy carriers is provided

The Introduction of Sustainable Aviation Fuels—A Discussion of Challenges, Options and Alternatives

The aviation industry is challenged to reduce its climate impact. The introduction of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) is, among other policy instruments such as the European Emissions Trading Scheme, an option favored by policymakers in Europe to achieve this objective. These fuels feature substantially reduced carbon life-cycle emissions in comparison to fossil fuels. In Europe, a mandatory quota for the use of sustainable fuels will most likely be introduced, starting in the year 2025. The introduction of a blending mandate by governments and the European Commission is associated with a range of challenges. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the economics of climate change mitigation in aviation and the role SAFs can play. The economic issues associated with the introduction of SAFs are analyzed, with a particular focus on the European Commission’s proposal for a blending mandate. Several suggestions for improvement are discussed. Furthermore, alternatives to SAFs are presented and evaluated

Luftverkehrsszenarien in BEniVer

In der Präsentation werden die Ergebnisse der Modellierung zum Energieverbrauch im Luftverkehr bis zum Jahr 2050 vorgestellt. Im Projekt BEniVer wurden zwei Szenarien für den Luftverkehr aufgestellt: Ein Szenario mit dem Einsatz von konventionellen, kerosinbetriebenen Flugzeugen und ein Szenario mit dem Einsatz von wasserstoffbetriebenen Kurz- und Mittelstreckenflugzeugen. Für die Szenarien werden verschiedene Indikatoren (Kerosin- und Wasserstoffbedarf, Beimischungsquoten von Sustainable Aviation Fuels, CO2-Emissionen) erstellt

CORSIA - Environmental effects and competitive implications

From 2020, the aviation sector’s emission growth will be subject to the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). We assess its effects on CO2 reduction and its competitive implications for the airline industry

Wie werden sich mittel- und langfristig die Ticketpreise entwickeln und welchen Einfluss hat dabei eine mögliche Erhöhung der Energiepreise im Luftverkehr?

Ölpreisschock, Ukraine-Krieg, Inflation und teure Umweltschutzmaßnahmen – wie werden sich im Kontext der dynamischen Rahmenbedingungen mittel- und langfristig die Ticketpreise im Luftverkehr entwickeln? Diese Frage ist nicht nur für die Reisenden von entscheidender Bedeutung, sondern auch für die gesamte Luftverkehrsbranche und von ihr abhängige Sektoren wie die Tourismuswirtschaft. Wolfgang Grimme und Dr. Sven Maertens vom Deutschen Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) und dem Institut für Flughafenwesen und Luftverkehr erklären die Zusammenhänge

Domestic flight ban in France

Domestic flight bans are increasingly being discussed as measures to reduce the carbon footprint of the air transport sector. In 2022, France actually implemented such a ban, based on various conditions. We investigate a) what the exact rules are; b) if the measure is supposed to have a real environmental impact; and c) to what extend different airlines or airline types (like, e.g. French versus international or hub&spoke versus point-to-point airlines) are actually affected

Economic Impact Modelling

Integrated (European) aviation modelling capabilities so far fFocus on negative externalities, while positive impacts (trade-offs) of measures, trends and technologies in the air transport sector neither fully nor systematically modelled and monitored. This includes employment and gross value added within �the sector‘s value chain, Provision of connectivity, accessibility and �travel time savings, and (regional) economic growth and �resulting employment and gross value added. We give an overview of existing avoation modelling capabilities and gaps in these fields

Availability of en-route alternate aerodromes as potential limitation in flight planning for hybrid-electric regional aircraft

To reduce carbon emissions, hybrid-electric aircraft could replace conventional turboprop aircraft on regional operations. Because of the limited energy density provided by batteries and requirements concerning reserves for operations under instrument flight rules (IFR), a range extender will be required to achieve commercially relevant ranges. In a serial hybrid concept with electric motors driving propellers, a gas turbine in combination with a generator would provide sufficient electricity for longer ranges, on top of the energy stored in the batteries. It is advantageous that the initial flight stages of missions beyond the battery-electric range are operated with the range extender, with battery power reserved for the final part of the mission. If the gas turbine fails, full battery power will remain available to return to the origin airport, to reach the planned destination or to divert to a suitable en-route alternate airport. Therefore, in cases of longer missions, flight planning must consider the availability of alternate en-route airports within the remaining battery-electric range of the aircraft. This paper examines whether the requirement to reach an alternate airport within the remaining battery electric range in case of a failure of the gas turbine / generator is a major constraint on hybrid-electric aircraft operations. For this purpose, actual airport pairs operated by larger regional turboprop aircraft (ATR42/72 and Dash 8-400) as listed in global flight schedules for the year 2019 are analyzed. The authors find that only a small fraction of routes is constrained by the availability of en-route alternate airports, but this result depends on the battery-electric range, for which a sensitivity analysis has been conducted. Minimizing operational constraints can be an important factor for the acceptance and market uptake of new aircraft concepts