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By Bjorn Fehrm

June 22, 2023, © Leeham News: Every announcement from aircraft deals, OEM updates, or supply chain news now has the words Sustainable/Sustainability injected in every second sentence. It doesn’t matter what the subject is; if it’s about a gas-guzzling way of transporting people at supersonic or even hypersonic speeds or at the other end in an eVTOL which is only as fast as your car on a US highway.

What is the real news about making our air transport system less polluting behind this misuse of the buzzwords? You have to search behind the headlines and the announcements that you know will not turn the dial. Let's tour the Paris Air Show 2023 and look at the real developments in Sustainability.

Figure 1. First flight of Universal Hydrogen's DH8-300 with a hydrogen propulsion system on the starboard side. Source: Universal Hydrogen.

Summary:

• The waves of Green propulsion solutions with inflated claims have calmed down.
• It's replaced with operationally usable solutions that deliver tangible emission gains.