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March 6, 2025

Introduction to the Aircraft Strategy

Learn how how to use the Aircraft strategy in Cascade for analysis
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Explore the Updates to Cascade’s Aircraft Strategy

The newest release of Boeing’s Cascade Climate Impact Model enables the user to explore the emissions reduction provided by the introduction of future aircraft models of different sizes powered by different energy carriers.

Why it Matters:

The ability to adjust the performance of different future aircraft – whether powered by conventional jet fuel, hydrogen, or electricity – is critical for assessing their potential impact on reducing emissions as their applicability varies by size class.

What’s New:

The following aircraft types are included in Cascade:

  • Advanced Conventional: Powered by conventional jet fuel derived from petroleum (Jet A/A-1) or drop in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
  • Hydrogen: Powered by liquid hydrogen fuel, which is directly combusted in a jet engine.
  • Electric: Powered by electricity stored in batteries.

For these energy carrier types, assumptions for aircraft within the following size classes can be modified:

  • Regional: Small aircraft with roughly 20-100 seats which are designed for shorter flights and serve regional and domestic routes. This category includes both regional jets and turboprop aircraft.
  • Single Aisle: Mid-sized aircraft typically ranging from 100-250 seats used for both short-haul and medium-haul flights. Example aircraft are the 737 Family, A320ceo/neo, and A220.
  • Widebody: Larger aircraft typically ranging from 200 to 500 seats designed for long-haul flights.

Since electric aircraft range is limited by battery energy density, and widebody aircraft are designed for long-haul flights, no widebody electric aircraft option is available.

Zoom in:

Not only is the emissions impact of aircraft assumptions visible in the main Net CO2-eq Emissions chart, but the resulting share of traffic carried can be examined in the Available Capacity by Aircraft chart. This chart includes not only future aircraft, but also previous and latest generation.

Source: Boeing Cascade Climate Impact Model (Version 2.0)

To look at capacity by aircraft type within just one size class, use the aircraft filter:

Source: Boeing Cascade Climate Impact Model (Version 2.0)

When filtering on just single aisle aircraft, the share of traffic serviced by hydrogen aircraft increases in this scenario. Traffic by aircraft type can also be broken down by flight distance.

Source: Boeing Cascade Climate Impact Model (Version 2.0)

Here, since hydrogen widebody aircraft do not enter service, hydrogen aircraft are limited to below 3,000 NM.

Try It Out:

Open Cascade here. With Cascade the user can start from this scenario and understand the potential impact of electric and hydrogen aircraft on different parts of the fleet.