The parties will develop a concept of operations for hydrogen in airports and demonstration flights to European destinations by the end of 2024 and commercial flights by 2025.
Under the agreement, the collaboration will focus on delivering the first hydrogen flight from Rotterdam, with the aim of decarbonising the whole airport ecosystem.
The companies will concentrate on operations at the airport, developing on-the-ground infrastructure and operations to satisfactory pilot distribution, and storage and dispensing of hydrogen for aviation.
Arnab Chatterjee, Vice President at ZeroAvia, said, “Having this consortium, including RHIA and Shell, moves the ball a significant distance down the field towards our goal line of commercial operations.”
Oliver Bishop, General Manager Hydrogen at Shell, added, “This project and collaboration is a milestone as it enables a rapid decarbonisation of a hard-to-electrify sector such as aviation.
“It also offers the chance to support one of the first international zero-emission passenger routes. This is a big step forward for hydrogen aviation and for Shell’s plans in this space.”
The project targets supporting aircraft operations using gaseous hydrogen to fuel ZeroAvia’s hydrogen-electric, zero-emission ZA600 engines.
For these specific demonstration flights, the parties aim to establish routes to airports in Europe within a 250 nautical mile radius of Rotterdam.
The collaboration will also target the development of aviation specific standards and protocols around safety, refuelling and hydrogen management, enabling rollout of the promising fuel seamlessly. The parties will work together in discussions with potential airline operators for initial demonstration and subsequent commercial flights.
ZeroAvia’s 2-5MW powertrain programme is already underway and will scale the clean engine technology for up to 90-seat aircraft, with further expansion into narrowbody aircraft demonstrators over the next decade.
Last month, ZeroAvia recorded its first flight powered by a hydrogen-electric engine. The company’s 19-seat Dornier 228 testbed aircraft, retrofitted with a full-size prototype hydrogen-electric powertrain, took off from Cotswold Airport in Gloucestershire, UK.
ZeroAvia is now working towards its certifiable configuration in order to deliver commercial routes using the technology by 2025. The Dornier 228 will conduct a series of test flights from Kemble and later demonstration flights from other airports.
Read more: ZeroAvia records first flight powered by hydrogen-electric engine
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