Air travel

Electric aircraft startups are having a topsy-turvy week

Beta Technologies raised over $300M for its novel eVTOL aircraft while Lilium filed for insolvency, highlighting the hurdles facing the nascent market

By Maria Gallucci . 5 November 2024

An all-electric aircraft prototype takes flight. (Beta Technologies)

Air travel

The first hydrogen-powered planes are taking flight

Aircraft retrofitted with hydrogen fuel cells could slash CO2 emissions from small planes — and potentially pave the way for hydrogen jets, new study shows.

By Maria Gallucci . 2 August 2023
Air travel

This new factory will turn CO2 into sustainable jet fuel

Startup Twelve broke ground on a commercial-scale facility in Washington state, which it says will be the first in the country to make sustainable aviation fuel from CO2.

By Maria Gallucci . 20 July 2023
Air travel

Startup lands $23M to upcycle CO2 into plane fuel

OXCCU raised the Series A from investors including United Airlines, one of many airlines investing in "sustainable aviation fuel" as pressure to curb emissions mounts.

By Maria Gallucci . 7 June 2023
Air travel

A hydrogen-powered airplane just made a record-setting test flight

Startup Universal Hydrogen says it successfully flew a 40-seat passenger plane powered mainly by hydrogen during a test flight in Washington.

By Maria Gallucci . 2 March 2023
Air travel

United’s $100M fund to invest in startups making sustainable jet fuel

United Airlines is launching an investment vehicle to support proven producers and emerging developers of sustainable aviation fuel in a bid to curb emissions.

By Maria Gallucci . 21 February 2023
Podcast

Can used cooking oil really decarbonize the aviation industry?

The greasy truth behind sustainable aviation fuels.

Play

By Stephen Lacey, Maria Gallucci . 22 min . 1 February 2023
Air travel

A giant solar microgrid is coming to New York City’s JFK airport

Some 13,000 solar panels will cover a new terminal being built at JFK, giving the airport a clean power supply that can keep operations running even in a blackout.

By Maria Gallucci . 26 January 2023
Air travel

Hydrogen-powered aviation reaches milestone with ZeroAvia's flight

The California startup's 19-seat hydrogen-electric prototype plane successfully completed a short test flight as efforts to curb air-travel emissions scale up.

By Maria Gallucci . 20 January 2023
Air travel

The smelly, greasy truth about how sustainable aviation fuel is made

Join our reporter as she tags along with a truck driver dumpster-diving for used cooking oil — all in the name of curbing aircraft emissions.

By Maria Gallucci . 12 January 2023
Air travel

United plans to electrify airport operations with sodium-ion batteries

United Airlines is making a strategic equity investment in sodium-ion battery maker Natron Energy as the aviation industry works to curb emissions.

By Maria Gallucci . 30 November 2022