The German Lufthansa is one of the ten main airlines in the world and one of those that has been supporting sustainable strategies the most in recent years. The company has already taken important steps to reduce its net carbon emissions by half by the end of this decade, as well as to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
In this sense, it is worth noting that its latest additions to the fleet are 30% more efficient in terms of fuel consumption compared to previous generations. However, in the future this will not be enough. And in the long term, there are already a good number of airlines that are considering new generation planes that are fully electric and powered by hydrogen.
For example, Air New Zealand launched a project called “Mission Next Gen Aircraft” last year and recently made public what will be its first aircraft in said project. It is a fully electric aircraft named Alia and manufactured by the American company Beta Technologies.
For its part, Lufthansa is laying the foundations for its electric air taxi services in the near future. At the moment, for its new fleet in this sense it does not point directly to the eVTOLs (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft) that are appearing lately in many parts of the world, but it is exploring different possibilities.
Its new partner in this area is Lilium, another German aviation company that is about to enter the industry with its eVTOL jet concept. For now, both companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which could move towards a possible strategic partnership in the future, although dates have not yet been discussed.
The objective is that, in the future, this association could range from the creation of dedicated infrastructures (vertiports) to the integration of airspace, aircraft maintenance and specific training for future pilots and crews of electric aircraft. With the launch of this project that includes both companies, therefore, we may one day see Lilium eVTOL aircraft sporting the Lufthansa logo.
Until that hypothetical moment, Lilium is already manufacturing its electric aircraft at its facilities in Wessling, Germany. This model is on track to obtain certifications from the EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and is expected to enter commercial service in 2026.
While, for the moment, the use of SAF (so-called sustainable aviation fuels) is considered the fastest and most efficient solution to reduce carbon emissions, it must be taken into account that electric aircraft will also gradually become widely available . In fact, Lilium predicts that by 2035 the demand for eVTOL in the European market alone will exceed 9,000 units. You can see their electric aircraft in mid-flight in the video that accompanies this article.
