Airbus

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

<p>Aircraft leasing group LCI and Airbus are joining forces to capitalize on the nascent advanced air mobility (AAM) industry. The partners have agreed to collaborate on several facets of the AAM ecosystem, such as partnership scenarios, business strategies, commercialization, and finance.&nbsp;</p>
<p>As part of the agreement, LCI will explore leasing and financing options for the CityAirbus NextGen, a four-seat eVTOL air taxi that Airbus aims to have certified and in service in Europe before the end of this decade. Airbus says it finished assembling the first full-scale&nbsp;<a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2024-02-15/first-cityairbus-nextgen-evtol-prototype-approaches-roll-out-ahead-flight">prototype of the CityAirbus NextGen</a>&nbsp;in late 2023 and intends to publicly reveal the aircraft on March 7 in Donauwörth, Germany, where it is preparing to start flight testing later this year.</p>
<p>“For two decades, LCI and Airbus have delivered capacity and financing solutions to airlines and operators across the globe, and we are now extending that to advanced air mobility,” said LCI CEO Jaspal Jandu. “Both LCI and Airbus take a holistic and pragmatic view of advanced air mobility, including vehicles and also infrastructure, financing, and network adoption. By combining our respective strengths, we will incubate and accelerate an entirely new generation of aviation.”</p>
<p>LCI is one of a handful of leasing companies that have&nbsp;recently begun investing in new electric and hybrid aircraft. The company has placed deposit-backed orders for up to 125 electric air taxis from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2022-04-27/lessor-lci-places-deposits-125-betas-alia-250-evtol-aircraft">Beta Technologies</a>&nbsp;and 40 Chaparral autonomous eVTOL cargo freighters from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2023-01-11/lci-add-elroy-air-chaparral-evtol-aircraft-lease-portfolio">Elroy Air</a>. These vehicles, both of which are expected to receive their type certification in 2025, will expand LCI’s existing portfolio of assets that already includes multirole helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.&nbsp;</p>
<p>More than half of LCI’s helicopter fleet serves the air ambulance market, for which the company is looking to implement the CityAirbus NextGen. Airbus also aims to offer the aircraft for scheduled passenger routes and ecotourism flights.&nbsp;</p>
<p>“LCI’s combination of operational expertise, customer networks, and financial insights complements Airbus’s technical innovation in flight technologies and will enable us to collectively drive the development of advanced air mobility,” said Balkiz Sarihan, CEO of the European aerospace group’s urban air mobility business unit. “Together we will take concrete steps toward the co-creation of next-generation AAM ecosystems and our decarbonization roadmap."</p>
<p>In addition to leasing AAM aircraft, LCI may consider offering&nbsp;<a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2024-02-26/lci-may-bundle-evtol-aircraft-and-infrastructure-advanced-air-mobility">bundled leases</a>&nbsp;that would give its customers access to infrastructure such as electric chargers, spare batteries, and hydrogen refueling stations.</p>


Science & Technology Editor

Hanneke Weitering

Airbus Teams With Aircraft Lessor LCI on Advanced Air Mobility

Charles Alcock

<p>News and developments about everything that goes into the cabin of an aircraft, from floor coverings to headliners, with a special emphasis on in-flight entertainment, communications and other electronics for passengers. If it is in the cabin of an aircraft, it’s covered here.</p>


<p>News and issues concerning the aviation charter and fractional-ownership industries and markets, including company announcements, regulations, new developments and labor issues.</p>


<p>News and issues about aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), covering all segments of the aviation industry; and modifications for aircraft and engines. Subjects include product support of aircraft, engines and avionics, MRO company mergers, acquisitions, announcements and personnel, Airworthiness Directives, Supplemental Type Certificate approvals and other topics.</p>


<p>News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.</p>


The second ACj is part of an order for 15 that will be completed at Comlux

Comlux Delivers Second Completed ACJ TwoTwenty Bizjet

Kerry Lynch

<p>News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.</p>


<p>News and issues relating to international air transport and cargo carriers, national airlines and regional airlines, including aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.</p>


Airbus eying potential strong demand for A350F freighter

Airbus Forecasts 20-year Market for 400 Large Freighters in Asia-Pacific 

<p>News about commercial airlines, including regulations, aircraft orders, safety, acquisitions, and mergers.</p>


Thales will install the equipment on 51 Boeing and Airbus airliners

Air India Opts for Thales Avant Up Inflight Entertainment

The ultra-long-haul airliner is flying on a blend of sustainable aviation fuel.

Airbus's A350-1000 Flies at Singapore Airshow

<p>News about environmental issues relating to aircraft operations, including noise issues, emissisions, and regulations. See Fuel for biofuel.</p>


<p>News and developments about aviation fuel, including jet fuel, aviation gasoline, and biofuel.</p>


The airframer is testing the ability to use 100% SAF.

Airbus Sets An Example With Sustainable Aviation Fuel Use

<p>News, issues, personnel, equipment and developments about air traffic management.</p>


<p>New developments and products in avionics, specifically about aircraft electronics in the cockpit.</p>


<p>News and information about crew, passenger, aircraft and airport security issues.</p>


Airbus is closely monitoring reports of GPS spoofing

Airbus A350-1000 Flight Test Aircraft Headed for GPS Signal Trials

The aircraft is fueled with a 35 percent blend of sustainable aviation fuel

Airbus Puts SAF on Display with A350-1000

<p>News and developments about aircraft engines, including turbofan, turboprop, turboshaft and piston.</p>


<p>News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.</p>


R&D work chases short-term improvement and a quantum leap for the 2030s

Engine Makers Explore Several Paths to Decarbonization

<p>As part of Airbus’s ongoing efforts to advance automation in commercial aviation, the aircraft manufacturer’s Acubed innovation unit&nbsp;in Silicon Valley has now collected data on more than 100 airports across the U.S.&nbsp;The massive data collection campaign, which began in California in 2019 and expanded to the eastern U.S. last year, will help to enable autonomous flight through artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, according to the Europe-based aerospace group.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Over four months, Acubed flew its so-called flight test lab aircraft—a Beechcraft Baron 58 modified with cameras and sensors—to more than 100 airports across the country in various weather and lighting conditions. At each airport, the experimental aircraft collected copious amounts of imagery that the Acubed team is using to train and test machine-learning algorithms.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Using the real-world data collected during the campaign, the <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2022-12-13/airbus-offers-usim-tool-fast-track-simulation-advanced-air-mobility">Acubed team</a> can also generate synthetic datasets to create a more robust data pool for the machine-learning algorithms to assimilate. “To go collect the data to the level that we need for each airport would be impossible,” said Paul Smith, Acubed’s director of flight test operations. By combining synthetic data with real-world data, researchers can simulate a wider variety of conditions and scenarios, such as obstacles on a runway.&nbsp;</p>
<p>“We have two challenges,” Smith said. “One is to build the synthetic data and the other is to prove that the synthetic data we build will replicate real life in the models we are running. So what we’re doing is taking the real data that we collect in the airplane and comparing it to the synthetic data in enough cases for a regulator to find acceptable.”</p>
<article class="align-center media media--type-video media--view-mode-default">
  
        <div class="layout layout--onecol">
    <div class="layout__region layout__region--content">
      <div class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blockmediavideofield-media-oembed-video">
  
    
      
            <div class="field field--name-field-media-oembed-video field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item"><iframe src="https://backend.ainonline.com//media/oembed?url=https%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D6gV-tyCwQX8%26ab_channel%3DAirbus&amp;max_width=0&amp;max_height=0&amp;hash=X6Ehqy6AxaRE7y0qpx6FkzHTaFyyGQSJsVch8WUscv0" width="200" height="113" class="media-oembed-content" loading="eager" title="Acubed Completes 2023 Massive Data Collection U.S. Flight Test Campaign"></iframe>
</div>
      
  </div>
<div class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blockmediavideofield-caption">
  
    
      
            <div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Acubed Completes 2023 Massive Data Collection U.S. Flight Test Campaign</div>
      
  </div>

    </div>
  </div>

  </article>
<p>To decide which airports to include in the data collection campaign, the Acubed team looked at airports in the U.S. where the Airbus A320 airliner operates. The A320 is the highest-selling single-aisle airliner, with more than 10,000 aircraft currently in service around the world. Airbus intends to give airliners such as the A320 family the capability to taxi, take off, and land autonomously, thereby reducing pilot workload while improving operational efficiency and safety.&nbsp;</p>
<p>“One hundred airports symbolize so much more than meets the eye. It stands for over 5 million images that will be funneled through our machine learning development pipeline to develop and test the robustness of our algorithms,” said Cedric Cocaud, chief engineer of Acubed’s Wayfinder group, which is overseeing the data project.</p>
<p>In addition to autonomous flight control systems, Airbus is applying its AI research to air traffic control and ground operations at airports. In September Acubed entered into a memorandum of understanding with Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to explore how AI and machine learning can make ground operations safer, more efficient, and more sustainable.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Acubed led early efforts by Airbus to explore options for developing new eVTOL aircraft, through its work on the <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2021-11-03/new-airbus-scale-innovation-unit-could-boost-technology-breakthroughs">Vahana technology demonstrator </a>conducted in tandem with the CityAirbus program at its sister company Airbus Helicopters. Airbus is since committed to developing the four-passenger <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2023-02-17/airbus-steps-delivery-evtol-aircraft-prototype-and-operational-ecosystem">CityAirbus NextGen aircraft </a>that it aims to start flight testing in 2024.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


Airbus

News

Airbus Teams With Aircraft Lessor LCI on Advanced Air Mobility

Comlux Delivers Second Completed ACJ TwoTwenty Bizjet

Airbus Forecasts 20-year Market for 400 Large Freighters in Asia-Pacific

Air India Opts for Thales Avant Up Inflight Entertainment

Airbus's A350-1000 Flies at Singapore Airshow

Airbus Sets An Example With Sustainable Aviation Fuel Use

Airbus A350-1000 Flight Test Aircraft Headed for GPS Signal Trials

Airbus Puts SAF on Display with A350-1000

Engine Makers Explore Several Paths to Decarbonization

Airbus Surveys 100 Airports to Train Machine Learning Algorithms

Aircraft

AIN Products

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RESOURCES

ABOUT AIN