The progressive electrification of modern aircraftsis pursuing the concept of the “more electric aircraft” (MEA).According to the MEA, replacing the aircraft’s hydraulic/mechanical actuators with electrical drives yields to an improvement in efficiency and power density, which means a reduction in weight, fuel consumption and noise/pollutants emission.As a result, power electronic converters and electric machines will increasingly become more important inmodern aircraft; power distribution systemsaresupposed to cope with theincreasing request of electric loads,adopting new techniques for a smart management of energy flow.Safety and reliability are the main drives guiding the change, but special care should be paid in designing power electronics and electrical drives for aircraft applications.

Indeed, aerospace systemsmust withstand a variety of stresses, which are uncommon in standard applications.In recent years, significant research has been done to make power converters more reliable. This includes not only the reliability of power switches and drivers, but also fault-tolerant convertersand drives, the analysis of the aging mechanisms affecting the systems, application real-time fault detection, and dynamic reconfiguration of power electronic converters. Authors from both academia and industry are invited to submit manuscripts for review for publication in this special issue. Original research and practical contributions as well as surveys and state-of-the-art tutorials are welcome.