More than 700 visitors discover innovative solutions for a more sustainable aviation at the Stargate Family Expo.
Last weekend, some 700 visitors to Brussels Airport discovered what the future of aviation might look like. At the two-day Stargate exhibition in the Skyhall, the general public was introduced to various concrete, innovative projects that have been developed and tested over the past five years at Brussels Airport and with other partners within the European Stargate project, an EU Green Deal programme aimed at accelerating the transition to a more sustainable aviation. The exhibition also marked the conclusion of the five-year project.
Over the past five years, Brussels Airport has served as a testing ground for innovative solutions to make aviation more sustainable as part of the European Stargate project. Together with 22 different partners from the aviation sector and the research community, the airport tested more than 30 concrete projects in practice.
From extended reality to used cooking oil for sustainable aviation fuel
During the exhibition, visitors were able to walk around a virtual airport using extended reality headsets. They could stand next to an aircraft during refuelling or walk amongst the electric ground service vehicles in the cargo area, whilst other visitors watched the action unfold on large screens.
Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) was also prominently featured at the exhibition.Visitors who travelled to the exhibition by train received a free portion of Dutch doughnuts. The deep-fried doughnut stall is a fine example of how used cooking oil can be given a new lease of life as a feedstock for SAF. Increasing the collection and recycling of used cooking oil was one of the Stargate projects, as SAF helps to reduce aviation’s CO₂ emissions. Visitors were also shown a scale model of the new mobile SAF blending unit, which enables sustainable aviation fuel to be blended locally for airlines wishing to fly with a higher SAF content.
In addition, visitors could watch a demonstration featuring an autonomous electric tow tractor for moving baggage and cargo trolleys, and learnt about the efforts being made to improve the organisation of cargo shipments.
The two-day exhibition marked the end of the European Stargate project. The knowledge and results from the projects will be shared and may contribute to making aviation in Europe more sustainable in the coming years.
The video below summarises five years of Stargate projects: