aircraft

On the way to its plan to massively cut carbon emissions, Airbus is reportedly looking at hybrid tech for the replacement for its A320neo.

When most people think of Rolls-Royce, they think of ultra-luxury cars, not airplanes. But a separate Rolls-Royce, spun off of the automaker in 1971, makes aircraft engines. And that company plans to go electric in tackling the world speed record for electric airplanes. To borrow a famous phrase...

By land, by sea, and by air, battery power is expanding to drive all kinds of transportation. The most challenging of these modes may be air travel. It's harder to loft several thousand pounds of batteries into the air, to make them last potentially an hour or more. And if they run out of juice...

Although flying cars aren’t looking that much closer to reality, your Uber could take to the air in just a few years and be electric. Well, mostly electric, eventually. Hybrid electric-powered vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicles could come into service specifically as air taxis. In...

With electrification spreading through many types of transport, one vehicle still remains largely absent in using electrons for propulsion: aircraft. Automakers have been building commercially viable electrified cars—in whole (electrics) or in part (hybrids)—for more than two decades...

If you want to find a major source of transportation-related emissions, just look up. Aviation currently accounts for around 2 percent of global carbon emissions, and many analysts believe its share could triple by the middle of the century if projected growth in air travel occurs. But finding...

Could supersonic airliners make a comeback with electric power?

The United Nations' aviation agency ratified a plan to limit emissions from international flights.

Proposed new emissions rules have drawn criticism from auto-industry lobby and environmental groups.

The EPA is preparing to draft emissions standards for airplanes.

NASA researchers are experimenting with hybrid aircraft.

NASA is testing a propulsion concept that uses wing-mounted electric motors.

The military is investigating a new jet engine design that could boost efficiency.

Solar Impulse 2 set a flight record for time and distance by a solar-powered aircraft.

United Airlines will use biofuel on certain flights in California.

The European Union's CleanSky 2 program aims to reduce aircraft emissions.

Southwest is expected to begin using biofuel in 2016.

South African tobacco farmers could grow jet fuel in the near future.

Aircraft--larger ones, at least--are surprisingly fuel-efficient ways of moving people around. They are however quite noisy, and aren't subject to nearly as many pollution controls as road vehicles, so there's still plenty room for improvement. The E-Fan light aircraft, designed by Airbus, looks...

While electric vehicles are gaining popularity in the automotive world, the aviation industry is also looking into ways to clean up its act. French firm Airbus is best known for its large passenger jets--including the double-deck Airbus A380--but its latest project is rather smaller. The E-FAN is a...