Hydrogen-electric engine developer ZeroAvia has successfully completed a test flight of its 19-seat Dornier 228 aircraft, the largest aircraft in the world to be powered by a hydrogen-electric engine.
The zero-emission flight took place on Thursday (19 January) from the company’s R&D facility at Cotswold Airport in Gloucestershire, UK and lasted 10 minutes.
In this testbed configuration, hydrogen tanks and fuel cell power generation systems were housed inside the cabin. In a commercial configuration, external storage would be used and the seats restored.
ZeroAvia founder and CEO Val Miftakhov said all systems performed as expected, with the flight marking a “major moment” for the aviation industry.
“The first flight of our 19-seat aircraft shows just how scalable our technology is and highlights the rapid progress of zero-emission propulsion… it shows that true zero-emission commercial flight is only a few years away.”
The flight forms part of the HyFlyer II project, a major R&D programme backed by the UK Government’s ATI Programme, which targets development of a 600kW powertrain to support zero-emission flight for 9-19 seat aircraft.
UK secretary of state for business Grant Shapps said the successful test flight “demonstrates how government funding for projects like these is translating into net zero growth”.
ZeroAvia began testing its hydrogen-powered engines in 2019 with 6-seat prototype flights of a Piper M-Class airframe, followed by a commercial-scale hydrogen-electric powered flight in September 2020. The company hopes to scale its clean engine technology to deliver commercial routes by 2025.
This week’s flight follows significant commercial momentum for ZeroAvia in recent months, including an engine order from American Airlines, a partnership agreement with OEM Textron Aviation and infrastructure partnerships with airports including Rotterdam, Edmonton International and AGS Airports.