VTI’s aviation research is really taking off. Since the beginning of September, the wind between its wings has been a genuine aviation enthusiast who is keen to further develop the organisation. “VTI has unique and broad expertise,” he says and points out the areas that will be most important in the coming years.
“See that? Look there, beyond the trees! What a reception!”
We have just climbed from our car outside the Swedish Air Force Museum in Linköping to take photographs when Magnus Nylin spots a JAS Gripen fighter aircraft descending to land at the nearby Malmen military airbase. What a greeting. The museum visit is particularly apt given 47-year-old Nylin’s considerable personal interest in aviation – not least its history.
“I actually have no idea where that comes from. There are no pilots nor any links to aviation in our family,” he notes as we wander around among the old aircraft on display in the museum, including Saab’s Flying Barrel, Lance and Thunderbolt.
“But I did read Biggles when I was little, and my grandfather had a book published to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Swedish Air Force: To Fly is to Live. I devoured that as well. Over the years I’ve flown model aircraft, tried gliding and I read aviation history and visit aviation museums whenever I can.”
His new role as head of aviation research at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) primarily involves coordinating the research area, inspiring colleagues to undertake new projects and network, and creating ties with other stakeholders in the aviation sphere. In the six years since 2019, VTI’s aviation research has expanded from the occasional project with an annual turnover of a couple of hundred thousand kronor to the present dozen or so projects and grants totalling many millions of kronor.
In 2022, aviation was announced as one of VTI’s strategic investments.
“It’s more important to do the right things than to do a lot. Growth isn’t an aim in itself, even if I naturally hope that we can remain at this level and perhaps even increase somewhat in future,” says Nylin.
“Nevertheless, increasing awareness that VTI is involved in aviation-related research, including internationally, is an important task. We have made considerable progress, but there remains much to do. We have broad expertise and are keen to collaborate and complement other stakeholders in the field.”
Much aviation research has traditionally been about propulsion technology, aerodynamics and materials science. Meanwhile, there are a range of other, equally important, areas in which growth is needed, and where VTI has significant opportunities to contribute on issues such as the environment, intermodal transport, energy, economics, logistics and the human role in the transport system. And how it is all interlinked.
In simple terms, VTI’s present aviation research is largely conducted in four areas: drones; charging infrastructure and electric flight; the transport system; and climate adaption. Two things that stand out in all these areas is the broad, interdisciplinary expertise of the collaborating researchers, and the systems perspective on how aviation interacts with and affects other modes of transport and how aviation is affected in turn.
Nylin believes that these questions will continue to dominate in future, at least over the next five years.
“One constant may be research questions on multimodal transport, such as the relationship between trains and planes. While aviation is facing significant challenges when it comes to fuel and emissions, it is highly efficient in terms of the infrastructure it requires.”
Do we judge aviation too harshly in relation other modes of transport?
“No, I wouldn’t say so. There’s no getting around the climate impact of aviation today. That said, we do need to be much better at making fair comparisons and calculating the benefits and costs associated with different modes of transport.”
One project that Nylin is personally leading is Regional Sustainable Aviation for Northern Europe: Technology Choices, Demand, Environmental Impact and Governance Instruments (RETAS), which is exploring the social and climate benefits of regional aviation transport systems and how competitive these are compared to other modes of transport.
The project will study domestic air travel in Sweden based on a base case scenario and a number of alternative scenarios. The base case scenario is based on currently available technology and fuels, while the future scenarios are based on assumed technological advances by 2030, 2040 and 2050.
“We have discovered that the calculation models in use today are better suited to long-haul flights, but the results are not as good for regional flights. This is one important result of the project,” says Nylin, who adds that there is roughly a year left of the project.
“The primary focus during the final year will be on other work packets, such as environmental impact.”
RETAS is also studying how new aviation technology, flight frequency and ticket prices may affect demand on new routes, something that in turn could reveal which policy instruments and business models may be relevant.
Text: Mikael Sönne
Translation: CBG
Facts: Current projects
- SEC LCAir: Assessing the environmental and resource impact of hybrid-electric aircraft intended for regional traffic during the period 2030–2060 using prospective lifecycle analysis.
- Resilience Testing of a Drone System in a Northern Climate
- Rural drone services with the focus on deliveries of lightweight goods and flying with sensors over long distances and thus long periods
- Intelligent Transport Systems for Airport Vehicles: A Pilot Study
- Energy-efficient Fossil-free Aviation in Regional Public Transport for a Green Transition (NORRFLYG)
- Mapping the Climate Impact of Swedish Air Travellers and Reduction Potential
- Regional Sustainable Aviation for Northern Europe: Technology Choices, Demand, Environmental Impact and Governance Instruments (RETAS)
- Flexible and Automated Charging via Energy Storage at Airports (FAACE)
- Impact of Climate Change on Airfields
- Collaborative System of Systems Exploration of Aviation Products, Services & Business Models (COLOSSUS)
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