Figures from the aerospace and tech sector from across the South West took part in a future of flight business breakfast organised by Bristol Airport and Business West on Friday 25th June.
Taking place at a time of considerable change this hybrid event offered the opportunity for the region to showcase and also discuss the future of aviation. It is widely recognised that the South West region houses one of the leading aviation clusters in the world. And despite more immediate challenges, the speakers were all clear that it’s a most exciting time to be working in the industry. Through a strong united approach to innovation and strategic leadership across the region, with business, government and education collaborating together, it was agreed we need to take a lead role nationally in will support the sector’s transition to net zero operations.
The event began with opening statements from Phil Smith, Managing Director at Business West; Cllr Toby Savage, Leader of South Gloucestershire Council and Marin Rees, Mayor of Bristol City Council.
These opening addresses acknowledged:
- The regions rich aviation heritage
- The sector being a major employer and source of inward investment
- Bristol airport being an important part of the regional and national infrastructure rather than something that serves the city alone
- The huge transformation needed across the sector to take Climate Action and reduce carbon emissions.
First of the expert speakers was James Richmond, Urban Mobility Lead at Atkins who spoke about the £2.5m Future of Flight Challenge project which is looking at the feasibility of an air taxi service in the South West Region. With end-to-end consortium partners including Rolls Royce who are developing the electric motors and Honeywell who are developing the control systems and also Bristol Airport itself enabling the South West region to provide a test bed for urban and rural air taxi flights, positioning this region and the UK as a world leader in this field. The audience weare reminded that this is a very exciting period for the industry as air taxis will offer zero Carbon, quiet and low-cost mobility.
For those not familiar with the sector, this may be difficult to imagine.
To take a glimpse into the future, Michael Cervenka, President, Vertical Aerospace showed this film. There has been much excitement surrounding consortium member Vertical Aerospace. Based next to Temple Meads in Bristol, it was founded by Stephen Fitzpatrick who also set up Ovo.
Due to go public, they have already secured thousands of pre-order and both the financial and green press are very excited about the possibilities that air taxis can bring.
Next to the lectern was Dave Lees, Chief Executive of Bristol Airport. He began by stating the benefits that aviation brings and the amazing things it can do for trade, education and cultures. But this comes as a BIG challenge that must be addressed: climate change and net zero can NOT be ignored.
He spoke about the approach that the airport was taking to climate action siting their focus on the sustainable development goals, biodiversity and of course carbon reduction. The airport has a published carbon road map and today announced that they are going further and will be carbon neutral by the end of 2021, some four years ahead of the 2025 target they had set. This will be certified by Airport Carbon Accreditation and in doing so will become the first net zero UK airport.
There are tens of thousands of jobs and many businesses working in the aviation and aerospace sectors across our region and at Business West. We are looking to maximise the exciting opportunities we are know are on offer on this very exciting transition to clean aviation. The sector has already committed to work together on this challenge with a commitment to Jet Zero.
There is also an enormous task ahead. To electrify flights, more electricity is required and from green sources, and the same goes for hydrogen fuel, which will need to be created using renewable sources. End-to-end industry collaboration will be needed and a long term approach to funding.
As part of the South West Chamber of Commerce we recently wrote to the Prime Minister ahead of the G7 Summit with 5 asks to support businesses of all sectors to make progress to net zero and have just yesterday backed the Climate Change Committee's assessment that governments need to make plans to reach net zero ahead of COP26.
To support, represent and lead the region and its businesses to progress to net zero, it is important for Business West, as the Initiative and the Chambers of Commerce work with all sectors. This incudes, those who are leading on climate action and those who are yet to begin; those who currently have large footprints and those with small impacts, those who have in-house expertise and the means to take action and those who currently don’t. Our fast developing Trading to Net Zero hub shares our own progress, the progress of our members and the wider business community and resources to encourage businesses to take further action. We have within our organisation advisors with expertise in low carbon, aviation, high tech supporting businesses with their start up, growth, innovation and export ambitions.
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