EXAELIA: Innovations for the next generation of sustainable long-haul aircraft

The aviation industry faces the challenge of significantly reducing its carbon footprint while ensuring an efficient, connected transportation system and economic development. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has set the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The EU-funded Clean Aviation Program, which is developing new aircraft and propulsion technologies for short to medium-haul flights, is making an important contribution to this.

Based on the scale-up of its technologies for long-haul aircraft using sustainable aviation fuel, Clean Aviation foresees a 30% reduction in CO₂ emissions, with entry into service planned after 2040. However, truly climate-neutral aviation requires even more radical innovations in aircraft configuration and propulsion technology.

Flying test beds to accelerate de-risking disruptive aircraft

This is precisely where the EXAELIA project comes in, which aims to accelerate the development of disruptive aircraft concepts to enable them to enter the market between 2045 and 2050. Developing radically-changed aircraft concepts comes with high investments and risks. The objective of EXAELIA is to evaluate flying test beds that are needed for de-risking the development of those disruptive future long-range aircraft. Novel flying test beds will thus help to accelerate the reduction of all aviation emissions and its climate and environmental impacts by 2050.

EXAELIA will predesign flying test beds for the most critical flight test challenges for the disruptive long-range aircraft, with the additional objective to enable re-use of the flying test beds for additional flight test needs.

Driven by potential emissions reduction and critical uncertainties

EXAELIA investigates, through advanced multi-disciplinary digital methods, the potential emissions reduction of long-range air traffic. Blended wing-body (BWB) and hydrogen-powered tube-and-wing models with innovative propulsion systems and technologies are particularly promising. BWB aircraft combine fuselage and wings to form an aerodynamically optimized unit, which reduces drag and fuel consumption. Tube-and-wing concepts rely on sustainable hydrogen propulsion, but require adapted fuselage designs to safely store the cryogenic hydrogen. Additionally, high-aspect-ratio wings will be used to enhance aerodynamic efficiency and overall performance.

In this context, EXAELIA identifies critical uncertainties, in particular those requiring flight validation for de-risking the future aircraft development, such as unknowns related to low-speed flight dynamics and control.

For those flight test requirements that go beyond the capabilities of existing assets, novel flying test beds are developed towards their preliminary design, efficiently combining flight test needs in potentially costly large-scale modular flying test beds. Roadmaps, but also operational and business plans, are prepared for the further development of the EXAELIA flying test beds and the use of these assets in the development of the future long-range aircraft.

AIT is part of a high-level consortium