Protecting the environment is everyone’s concern these days, and we all know that driving cars and flying in airplanes produce greenhouse gases. Luckily, charter jet companies and private plane manufacturers are looking for more ways to go green. The effort is in response to environmental concerns, which are important many of the industry’s VIP customers.
Politicians, Hollywood celebrities, and business leaders alike need to focus on the environmental, as well as financial costs, of doing their thing. They also have to protect their public image and not be seen as heavy polluters. All these factors mean that charter jet customers are putting pressure on the industry to be more environmentally neutral, or to at least have less of a negative impact on the earth. The result is a new direction for manufacturers of charter jets.
Aircraft manufacturers are now leading the charge to greater fuel efficiency as well as the transition to alternative energy sources.
- By taking advantage of government matching programs that reward investments to develop environmentally sound aircraft, Boeing recently launched its ecoDemonstrator Program for accelerating environmental technologies. The program is meant to emphasize up-and-coming technologies in the areas of fuel efficiency, noise reduction and operational efficiency, while at the same time developing technologies for aviation applications at a faster pace than before.
- The Swiss are also getting in on the action. The Solar Impulse is an experimental, fully solar-powered aircraft. It recently completed its first 24-hour test flight successfully, after having aced its earlier, shorter tests. This recent milestone comes after seven years of research and development, to the delight of solar engineers and aviation specialists everywhere.
- Not to be outdone, the British Zephyr, a solar-powered high-altitude long-endurance (Hale) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), recently topped the endurance record for any UAV. It has flown nonstop now for at least seven days, besting the existing record by 400%, and it’s still in the air. The team’s project manager, Jon Saltmarsh, said Zephyr would be brought down only after it had flown nonstop for at least two weeks.
None of these applications is available to private charter jet customers just yet. Most of the aircraft are experimental, and the programs are research-oriented. However, we think it’s just a matter of time before charter jets will also be able to take advantage of a number of these eco-friendly technologies.
