Welcome back to In/Flight!

2023 was a big year in aviation tech and the pace of progress shows no sign of slowing in the year ahead. The dizzying array of new innovations promises to open up new frontiers, enhance passenger experiences, and inch ever closer to the industry’s dream of achieving true net zero. The challenges are tremendous. But so too are the opportunities. So tray tables in the upright and locked position, and seat belts fastened. Let’s get ready to soar into ‘24.

As always, if you’ve got an interesting story you’d like to share here or suggestions for how to make this newsletter more useful to you drop me a line - happy reading, and flying!

Michael 

Long haul reads

The good, the bad, and the awful of AI in aerospace - A concise overview of how AI's already positively impacting the aerospace industry, and where things could go wrong. Interestingly, many of the challenges like ensuring AI's reliability and robustness are not so industry specific, opening up the possibility of learning and adopting from elsewhere. 

Billions at play - By 2035, the hybrid aircraft market will generate $10 Billion. That's according to a new report by research agency Allied Market Research. The figure is nearly $2 billion in revenue by next year alone. The report's authors rightly (inmho) see the hybrid appeal dominating over all-electric aircraft, at least until the time battery tech allows for significantly increased capacity. We're unlikely to see hybrid tech applied in a big way to mainstream commercial aircraft in the next decade. But the regional jet market could be another story. 

What to expect from airport technology in 2024 - An interesting set of predictions for innovations and new initiatives expected to come alive at an airport near you this year. Spoiler alert: AI and sustainability feature big (again). 

Big bet on hybrid electric aircraft - American private charter operator JSX announced that it placed an order for up to 332 low-emissions hybrid electric aircraft. This order, one of the largest to date in the nascent low-emissions aviation sector, was divided between three different startup aircraft makers. One of the three is Aura Aero, a French firm and rising star of the electric aviation world. I enjoyed reading the interview with Aura Aero founder Jérémy Caussade.

🦋 Butterfly in the sky, I can fly twice as high… or at least that’s what Overair would surely like to be able to say to the competition. The California based company just completed its first full-scale prototype eVTOL with testing scheduled for this year.

⛰️ Speaking of flying high - as in altitude. The US has joined a handful of other countries in pushing for joined up standards for testing at higher altitudes. This comes as numerous players enter the race to create supersonic aircraft.

🐮 Seated in cattle class? It might not be as bad as you think. Here are the innovations to economy class to watch for in 2024.