Hydrogen planes, electric propulsion and new regulations: Aviation is changing 

Hydrogen planes, electric propulsion and new regulations: Aviation is changing 

From the Wright brothers' historic flight in 1903 to the development of supersonic aircraft, the history of aviation has been driven by technology and ambition. Now, as the 21 century progresses, the sector continues to show its appetite for innovation and radical design. Last September, for instance, a hydrogen fuel-cell plane capable of carrying passengers The same month also saw release details of , with the European aerospace giant claiming they could enter service by the year 2035. More recently, announced it had signed a commercial agreement to In a statement, United said the Overture aircraft — which is yet to be built — was set to be "optimized to run on 100% sustainable aviation fuel." All of the above are linked by a focus on technologies designed to reduce aviation's environmental footprint. This represents a major task, even if the number of flights last year slumped due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to the International Energy Agency, carbon dioxide emissions from aviation "have risen rapidly over the past two decades," hitting almost 1 gigatonne in 2019. This, it notes, equates to "about 2.8% of global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion." Elsewhere, the World Wildlife Fund describes aviation as