Potential Network Planning for Electric Aircraft
Faa, Mikael (2022)
Faa, Mikael
2022
All rights reserved. This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022120927649
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022120927649
Tiivistelmä
This thesis aims to give an overview of how electric aircraft can be included into the airlines’ current networks, what business models could suit this innovation, along with what possible networks, routes and markets could be ready to welcome this new frontier of sustainable aviation.
Driven by the pressure of the worsening climate situation, the aviation industry is striving to cut its emissions as much as possible, with zero as a final goal. Among the different innovations currently under development, electric aircraft represent an opportunity and a promising solution.
The first commercial flights operated by electric aircraft are believed to start in 3-4 years, with two manufacturers currently prototyping their models, expected to get into the market in the near future: Heart Aerospace (Sweden), with its ES-30, and Eviation (Israel/USA), with Alice. As of 2022, there is no research touching the operational side of electric aviation, as the sector is still very young.
The theoretical framework of this study covers the current research about electric aircraft from a business perspective, analyzing the state of the art, the developments, the benefits and the challenges, and it reviews the theories of airline network planning, with elements of network structure, design and scheduling, along with a focus on regional aviation.
The result is a framework presenting the characteristics that a market should have in order to be properly served by electric aircraft; an evaluation of some of the current customers is also made. Then, the elements of the framework are practically applied in some case studies, and four examples of implementation into the Nordic countries have been designed by the author.
Driven by the pressure of the worsening climate situation, the aviation industry is striving to cut its emissions as much as possible, with zero as a final goal. Among the different innovations currently under development, electric aircraft represent an opportunity and a promising solution.
The first commercial flights operated by electric aircraft are believed to start in 3-4 years, with two manufacturers currently prototyping their models, expected to get into the market in the near future: Heart Aerospace (Sweden), with its ES-30, and Eviation (Israel/USA), with Alice. As of 2022, there is no research touching the operational side of electric aviation, as the sector is still very young.
The theoretical framework of this study covers the current research about electric aircraft from a business perspective, analyzing the state of the art, the developments, the benefits and the challenges, and it reviews the theories of airline network planning, with elements of network structure, design and scheduling, along with a focus on regional aviation.
The result is a framework presenting the characteristics that a market should have in order to be properly served by electric aircraft; an evaluation of some of the current customers is also made. Then, the elements of the framework are practically applied in some case studies, and four examples of implementation into the Nordic countries have been designed by the author.