Saving up to 50 per cent of energy during flight New publication paves the way for climate neutrality in aviation

With its publication ‘The Energy-Efficient Aircraft of the Future: A Long-Term Perspective’, the German Aerospace Society (DGLR) is focusing on the classic disciplines of aircraft construction in order to enable climate neutrality in aviation by 2050. The paper, which was written in collaboration with several experts from Technische Universität Braunschweig, outlines measures for significantly improving the energy efficiency of aircraft in air transport.

The goal of drastically reducing the climate impact of air transport and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 poses enormous challenges for the aviation industry. This is only possible with renewable and sustainable energy sources such as sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) or green hydrogen. However, their availability remains limited and fuel costs will rise significantly in the course of the energy transition. Targeted measures that significantly improve energy efficiency in aviation – both in aircraft operation and aircraft design – are therefore essential.

To this end, eleven authors from industry and research, including four authors from TU Braunschweig (Prof. Jens Friedrichs, Prof. Rolf Radespiel, Prof. Cord Rossow and Prof. Martin Wiedemann), discuss the following in the paper ‘The Energy-Efficient Aircraft of the Future: A Long-Term Perspective’: They discuss various technological perspectives in a balanced approach that takes into account both the potential and the challenges associated with a significant improvement in energy efficiency. Based on the findings, they outline a way to reduce the energy consumption of future aircraft by at least 50 per cent.

“We can save up to 50 per cent of energy during flight if all disciplines work together consistently. This applies, of course, to the engines and their integration into the aircraft, but also far beyond that. With this paper, we show what potential there is and where the challenges lie on the path to emission-free air transport,” says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Friedrichs, TU Braunschweig and co-author of the paper.

“It is important to get all stakeholders on board and create an understanding of the other disciplines in order to enable major steps towards greater energy efficiency and ultimately climate neutrality by 2050.”

Improved energy efficiency has a direct positive impact on an aircraft’s carbon footprint. This is because less energy is required to operate an aircraft, which means less fuel is consumed. Some key technologies can be integrated into future classes of large transport aircraft well before 2050. These include, among others,

• the reduction of aerodynamic drag,
• weight reduction through the consistent use of carbon fibre composite materials (CFC) in airframe structures,
• the synergistic integration of new propulsion technologies, and
• active aircraft control.

The latter enables, for example, the active reduction of gust loads, manoeuvre loads and even flutter control, which significantly reduces aircraft weight and enables the realisation of wings with extremely high aspect ratios. Possible challenges in future aircraft configurations for a competitive aircraft (both in economic and ecological terms) and challenges with regard to integration into the overall air transport system are also being considered.

“In the debate on sustainable aviation fuels and hydrogen, we must not neglect the further development of the classic disciplines of aircraft construction. They can make a decisive contribution to achieving climate neutrality by 2050. We at the DGLR are committed to pursuing this path as an industry in order to leverage the potential that exists here – regardless of industrial or political directions and with a focus on scientific and technical feasibility,” says Roland Gerhards, President of the German Aerospace Society, on the publication of the DGLR paper.