News Extra January 2026

With the European Commission due to report on the scope of the EU Emissions Trading System this summer, analysis by non-profit think tank InfluenceMap shows the positions between short-haul and long-haul airlines on the scheme have narrowed. Introduced in 2012, the original intention was to include all flights arriving and departing from the European Economic Area, as well as intra-European flights. International pressure and industry lobbying persuaded the EU to scale back the scope to intra-EEA flights only, but only temporarily. While the long-haul legacy airlines accepted the move, short-haul carriers such as Ryanair and easyJet opposed it on the grounds that this disadvantaged them. Now, according to InfluenceMap, the two carriers are aligning their lobbying efforts with legacy airlines, although it notes a small number of actors, including Wizz Air, have continued to support expanding the ETS to all flights, arguing that this would provide regulatory certainty and unlock substantial climate finance.

Toulouse-based Beyond Aero reports it has successfully completed its first wind tunnel test campaign, which it describes as a major milestone towards the end of the preliminary design phase of its hydrogen-electric business aircraft. The campaign focused on one of the programme’s most critical challenges: ensuring predictable aerodynamic performance, stability and control for an aircraft integrating gaseous hydrogen tanks outside the fuselage. “The development of a hydrogen-electric aircraft requires precise aerodynamic design. The strong correlation between experimental results and numerical simulations, in the linear domain, gives us a solid validation of our numerical process,” said Delphine Bonnaud, Head of Aerodynamics at Beyond Aero. A video of the wind tunnel test can be watched here.

A new report by IDTechEx forecasts the global SAF market may reach $50 billion in 2036, representing a 10-year CAGR of 21%. However, it notes, there is still a large amount of regulatory uncertainty surrounding SAF. For example, in the US, the planned project pipeline for SAF is very large but current available government support for SAF would not economically incentivise SAF over renewable diesel production at most facilities outside of voluntary demand from airlines. In the short term, it says, this may lead to significant SAF overcapacity as facilities open ahead of expected regulatory demand.

The UK government is to allocate £43 million ($60m) to green aviation projects that will go towards progressing zero emission aircraft and research into how climate-warming contrails can be avoided. With the production of low carbon fuels alone expected to add up to £5 billion to the economy by 2050, the funding will drive millions of pounds of private investment into the aviation sector, supporting skilled jobs in technology development and scientific research, and funding projects to cut aviation emissions, promises the government. UK businesses, researchers and universities will be invited to bid for their share of the funding, with competitions launching from February.

The European Commission has confirmed that as of 1 January 2026, Switzerland has adopted the ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation. Aviation fuel suppliers at Zurich and Geneva airports will need to ensure their fuel contains a minimum 2% SAF blend, ramping up to 70% by 2050. Airlines are also mandated to follow the 90% fuel uplift rule, helping cut unnecessary emissions caused by carrying extra fuel weight. The Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation has published technical guidance to support operators in the transition.

Low-cost carrier easyJet says its last remaining A320ceo aircraft are due to be retrofitted with Airbus-manufactured sharklets by this summer. Sharklets are blended winglet devices that reduce fuel consumption by increasing the effective wingspan and minimising lift-induced drag by up to 4%. Once completed, easyJet says the upgrade will offer an additional combined fuel saving of 2,156 tonnes across its fleet, an equivalent reduction of almost 7,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. They will also increase mission range by up to 100 nautical miles and also allow the aircraft to accommodate an additional six seats.