Electric Flight, Hydrogen, or Used Frying Fat: The Future of Sustainable Aviation

• Elsbeth Heersink

  economics editor

The May holidays are over for part of the country after this weekend. Many people have taken a flight in recent weeks for holidays abroad: Eindhoven and Eindhoven airports Schiphol has processed tens of thousands of passengers every day.

All these planes fly on kerosene, and the Netherlands must be climate neutral by 2050, according to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency it is possible to achieve – while there is a lot of action. It is difficult to stabilize the aviation sector, but hard work is being done on alternatives to flying on kerosene.

Here are the three most promising options:

One option that many people are thinking about is an electric airplane. But it is not possible to turn every aircraft in a fleet, put a battery in and take it off. Batteries are heavy, and an aircraft must be as light as possible to be able to fly longer distances, says Henri Werij, dean of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft.

In addition, the life of an aircraft is long if it is maintained properly, about twenty to thirty years. Each new aircraft is a multi-million investment for companies and in recent years investments have been made in quieter and more economical fleets that still fly on kerosene.

Research shows that electric flight over longer distances is not possible, but the founders of Elysian think differently. In nine years, in 2033, they want to take off a plane with ninety passengers that should be able to travel about 800 kilometers, with the ultimate goal of a range of 1,000 kilometers.

“If you asked ChatGPT if it was possible to fly long distances electronically, the answer would be ‘no’,” said co-founder Reynard de Vries, responsible for development at Elysian. But according to him, the technology is advanced enough to implement the plans. At the beginning of this year, Elysian got investment of ten million dollars.

The small Teuge airport has been working on electric flight for years. The result is a small plane for two with a range of just over 100 kilometers, not even enough to fly from Enschede to Amsterdam.

We checked the airport:

Another option is hydrogen, which is also being looked at at TU Delft. Two sustainable options are possible: converting hydrogen to electricity and burning hydrogen for propulsion.

For example, hydrogen in liquid form can be carried on board for shorter distances. When hydrogen is converted into energy, no harmful substances are released, which is what happens when you fly with a traditional combustion engine.

These are great options for the future, but none of them have yet reached a point where they are suitable for commercial aircraft. Just like fully electric flight, it is still very much in the future.

So electricity and hydrogen are options, but only for much later. But we already have to think more sustainably. The most obvious choice is a blend of kerosene with Stable Aviation Fuel (SAF). This is made from biomass, waste material such as used cooking oil, fat or wood. There is also an option to create a SAF voluntarily.

Several airlines such as Ryanair and KLM have already partially adapted to this addition. It has to be, because it’s 2025 essential in Europe to blend 2 percent SAF into jet fuel.

As a user, you can also purchase additional SAF for your flight, such as with KLM, but … European rulers calling these practices ‘false’ and forcing companies to drop or change their green claims. An additional problem with the more stable fuel is that SAF is not yet produced in large quantities. There are very few agents around the world.

Although alternatives to fossil fuels are being developed, the combustion engine is an integral part of the aviation sector at this time. It may go on for decades.

According to Elysian’s De Vries, we need to think differently about flight. Nature and Environment agree. “The damage caused by aircraft is happening now, not just in the future,” says Rob van Tilburg, director of programs at the environmental group. “The part of the Netherlands that is currently flying is causing a lot of damage. Only flying less will help prevent climate damage.”

According to him, the government must take action now: set a CO2 ceiling for aviation and distance-based tax tickets. “Now the ticket fee is next to nothing. So if you want to go to Bali you have to pay extra.”