Boeing Seeks Cooperation With Russia On Sustainability Projects, Alternative Fuels

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st July, 2021) Boeing would like to cooperate with Russia on sustainability projects, including alternative fuels, Sergey Kravchenko, president of Boeing Russia/CIS, told Sputnik, adding that the country could become one of the biggest contributors to make the world environmentally friendly.

"Russia eventually can become one of the biggest contributors to keep the world more environmentally friendly. We would like to cooperate with Russia on sustainability projects, including alternative fuels," Kravchenko said on the sidelines of the International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS-2021 outside Moscow.

By 2030 all commercial airplanes should be certified and ready to use alternative fuels and that requires an absolutely new approach to training, maintenance, as well as in other spheres, according to the executive.

"[Boeing's sustainability program] should address the challenges - to make the world cleaner, make the climate more stable and that will result in new standards for the environment. The jet alternative fuels are... a big interest of the Boeing company," Kravchenko noted, adding that the first demonstrative flight with alternative fuels was shown by Boeing back in 2008.

The sustainability initiative is one of three key initiatives Boeing promotes to make Russia one of its key international partners, Kravchenko continued. The second initiative concerns global aviation safety.

"And for that reason, you know, we put together special research, our project here at Skolkovo [Innovation Center outside Moscow] - working together with SkolTech University and working together with the best scientists and programmers of the Russian Federation to investigate the influence of the stress or stressful situation on the work of the pilots.

And that's very, very important because today we train millions of pilots," he said.

Some unpalatable situations happen because pilots operate under enormous stress, the executive explained.

"And we can learn how to reduce the stress, how to include the under stress training scenarios in our pilots learning curriculum, it will only help to increase the resilience of pilots," he added.

The issue of pilots suffering from fatigue and overwork came to light in recent years following several deadly crashes. Surveys performed in the wake of the tragedies revealed that the topic of pilots' mental health is not new, and depression among pilots still remains a problem. This is largely due to factors like shift-work, working long hours, lack of trust toward medical professionals, fear of losing one's career, and increased stigma toward admitting one has mental health problems.

The third Boeing program reflects the current world trends - people are scared of the COVID-19 pandemic and are afraid of flying because they think they may get infected.

"In order, to address this, Boeing is developing a Confident travel Initiative. This initiative is a combination of many efforts, technologies that make sure that before the flight, on the flight and after the flight, the passengers are very well protected from the virus. This initiative will last for many years because this virus will live for a while," Kravchenko said.

The MAKS-2021 international aerospace show is taking place in the Moscow Region from July 20-25. The Sputnik news agency is an official media partner of the event.