Operator | Airport | FBO | MRO | OEM | Charter | Interiors | Avionics | Training | Inflight

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps called on the aviation industry to “take the lead” in launching a “green transport revolution”.

Addressing industry experts at Cranfield University last week. Mr Shapps set out his vision for aviation.

“We need to get to grips with commercial aviation greenhouse gas emissions for the sake of our children and our fragile environment,” he said.

Praising the UK aviation sector, he continued: “I know how the whole sector supercharges our economy, drives prosperity, jobs and tourism and helps promote Britain’s interests globally. [However] with aviation set to grow significantly over the next three decades, largely driven by rising demand from emerging markets, particularly Asia, the Middle East and India, I want to pave the way for the transition towards commercial use of cleaner electric planes. I want to create an electric revolution in our skies.”

The Government is committed to helping the UK aviation industry seize future growth opportunities following Brexit, he added. “Just as the UK led the world as a pioneer of international commercial flight in the twentieth century, I want the UK to become a hotbed for the design, manufacture and use of electric planes in the twenty-first and to seize a share of a market that could be worth £4 trillion globally by 2050.”

Cranfield University is a postgraduate and research university, specialising in science and engineering, well known for the development of many aspects of aircraft research and design. Cranfield had a role in developing the Harrier Jump Jet and it is currently developing what could be the first electric-only passenger flight, due to be operational in the Orkney Islands in Scotland from 2022, while also working with Airbus to build a hybrid electric aircraft.

BlueSky Business Aviation News | 26th September 2019 | Issue #526