Environmentally-friendly mobility is hot topic all around the world. There are now professional and well-tested solutions for cars, railways and even ships. Low emission air travel, however, has just barely got off the ground.

Smaller electric and hybrid sport aircraft that seat just 1 or 2 persons can indeed fly for a short period of time. However, many years of research and development are still needed before these technologies are mature enough for use in commercial passenger airliners.

Hybrid electric or electrically-powered engines for aircraft suitable for something like the Airbus A320 is currently science fiction. In order to turn vision into reality, the “Innovation Alliance for the Development of Low Emission Aircraft Engines (IBEFA)” was formed. This alliance is intended to bring forward the development and testing of new drive concepts for aircraft engines as well as initiate a range of other activities in related areas. The aim over the next two years is to get a technology demonstrator vehicle in the air that can be used for trialling a wide range of different electric drive concepts.