Airbus has lifted the curtain just a tad and given us a glimpse at the future of commercial aviation. At the Airbus Summit 2025 in Toulouse, the company presented a view of the technology that will create the single-aisle airliner of tomorrow.
Worldwide diesel/kerosene biofuel production is too low. Last time airbus made a demo on 100% biofuel made from algae, they bought the output of a whole year to run a single long haul flight.
There is a reason they say Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and not biofuel. They also need e-fuel / synthetic fuel made from hydrogen in addition to biofuel.
Most of what our liquid fuels are used for currently can be done by electric vehicles, it will be tasks like farm equipment, and vehicles and equipment working in remote areas, that will still require liquid fuels.
You can also run an aircraft on biofuel with little to no modifications, with none of the downsides of hydrogen.
Worldwide diesel/kerosene biofuel production is too low. Last time airbus made a demo on 100% biofuel made from algae, they bought the output of a whole year to run a single long haul flight.
There is a reason they say Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and not biofuel. They also need e-fuel / synthetic fuel made from hydrogen in addition to biofuel.
There is a lot of biofuel being made of other fuel types though, so no reason why production of aviation biofuel can’t ramp up.
That requires lots of cropland though. Hydrogen can effectively be made by offshore wind farms etc.
It might work if we reduce standard fuel requirements for cars etc enough.
Most of what our liquid fuels are used for currently can be done by electric vehicles, it will be tasks like farm equipment, and vehicles and equipment working in remote areas, that will still require liquid fuels.