Aviation Chiefs Seek Tesla-Like Disruptor to Drive Carbon Clean-Up

The next breakthrough in aircraft design is likely to come from a “disruptor” rather than the two dominant planemakers, Boeing Co. and Airbus SE, according to one of the industry’s biggest customers.

“I’m looking for disruptors with new concepts that the OEMs can then latch onto,” Air Lease Corp. founder Steven Udvar-Hazy said in a webinar for the virtual Farnborough International Airshow. “Just like in the automotive industry, it took Tesla, which was a newcomer, to change the views of the major auto manufacturers to electric technology.”