The revolutionary invention of jet engines in today’s and future travelling

Seventy five years ago this Sunday, on 15 May 1941, the first flight of a British plane powered by Sir Frank Whittle’s company, took off from RAF Cranwell. Even though his patent had been granted since 1932 and published in a few other countries, it took a long time for ‘the father of the jet age’, an engineer from Coventry, to implement his idea of producing jet propulsion by the use of a gas turbine. On that day, a new era began for aviation [1]. Nevertheless, modified jet engines are used nowadays for energy generation in different power systems such as gas and marine power plants. Not to mention the state-of-the-art ship design integrating modified jet engines for creating movement. But could Sir Whittle had truly had envisioned the impact of his innovation in modern-day travel habits and trends?

People used to travel across land by trains and across sea by ships. This changed gradually over time until, within a period of twenty years; the market-share of air transport was increased by 22% for flights of up to a maximum distance of 750km and 235% for longer distances. This increased use of air-travel was further accelerated by the air fare drop, especially in short-haul flights. Subsequently, a wider range of destinations became more accessible by air [2].

When it comes to innovation, nowadays the interest is shifted towards aerospace applications. Undoubtedly, the technological achievements spanning over this period are of massive importance for aviation and space flights to become more accessible. However the mixture of these achievements is not independent to our daily lives, especially when it comes to travelling and transport.

Consequently, the debate on the use of air transport has been shifted from the initial challenges of developing the technology for long-haul flights to newer environmental concerns and energy efficiency as air travel has increased. Essentially, the great demand in energy to maintain all available services and expand the transport grid, forced policy makers and stakeholders in infrastructure to reconsider passengers’ preferences. Gleave [3] as cited by Åkerman [4] suggested that the selection of one mode over another depends largely on availability, time duration and fares.

At the same time, other transport modes such as rail couldn't compete with air travel in terms of speed. The EU policies supported the upgrade of the rail sector such that an alternative mode was available even for long distances. Additionally, the most modern airports such as Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam are connected with the European high-speed rail network. State-of-the-art technology in High speed rail allows for maximum speeds of 300km/hour, offering to passengers more than one mode of transport to choose for both short and longer distance journeys across Europe. A similar concept was introduced in the ‘Thames Hub project’, suggesting the construction of an aviation hub in the South East UK [5].

On the other hand, the European rail network, which connects densely populated European cities, is excessively electrified. Although fossil fuels are largely used to generate most of the required energy, alternative energy systems are introduced. Swiss rail transport emissions for instance, are significantly lower compared to EU rail due to the almost exclusive use of hydro-power as traction energy [4]. Nevertheless, the development and integration of renewable energy sources into the grid should be considered as an important contribution to the decrease of carbon emissions of rail. However, the future in high-speed transport is currently challenged by Elon Musk to implement the idea of Hyperloop and double the speed of a jet. Will the citizens of the future choose to travel through evacuated tubes as first described more than a century ago?

Undoubtedly, the breakthrough in aviation due to Sir Frank Whittle’s contribution not only affected the technological development of aerospace applications but also incentivised stakeholders to support the upgrade of the rail sector and offered more options to today’s traveller. If Sir Whittle had not been so persistent in following his own vision and standing by his technology, the modern history of travel may have ”took off” in a different direction.

References

1. Midland Air Museum, Coventry Airport, Baginton, Warwickshire, CV3 4FR
2. Dobruszkes, F., High-speed rail and air transport competition in Western Europe: A supply-oriented perspective. Transport Policy, 2011. 18(6): p. 870–879.
3. Gleave, S.D., Air and Rail Competition and Complementarity. 2006, European Commission DG TREN.
4. Åkerman, J., The role of high-speed rail in mitigating climate change — The Swedish case Europabanan from a life cycle perspective. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 2011. 16(3): p. 208–217.
5. Spielmann, M. and R. Scholz, Life Cycle Inventories of Transport Services: Background Data for Freight Transport (10 pp). The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 2005. 10(1): p. 85–94.

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