Zero Avia completes first hydrogen-electric passenger flight
ZeroAvia claims to have completed the world's first hydrogen fuel cell powered flight of a commercial-grade aircraft, completing a full circuit above the company's R&D facilily in Cranfield on a Piper M-class six-seat plane.
It will now turn its attention to the final stage of its six-seat development program - a 250-mile zero emission flight out of an airfield in Orkney before the end of the year. The demonstration of this range is roughly equivalent to busy major routes such as Los Angeles to San Francisco or London to Edinburgh.
Val Miftakhov, CEO, ZeroAvia, said: "While some experimental aircraft have flown using hydrogen fuel cells as a power source, the size of this commercially available aircraft shows that paying passengers could be boarding a truly zero-emission flight very soon. All of the team at ZeroAvia and at our partner companies can be proud of their work getting us to this point, and I want to also thank our investors and the UK Government for their support."
ZeroAvia's innovation programme in the UK is part-funded through the UK Government's Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Programme.
Airbus released three designs for hydrogen hybrid planes earlier this week as aviation continues to pursue sustainable power sources.
