The maiden flight of its 19-seat Dornier 228 testbed aircraft, retrofitted with a full-size prototype hydrogen-electric powertrain, took place from the company’s R&D facility today at Cotswold Airport in Gloucestershire, UK, and despite only lasting six minutes, it marked a milestone in zero-emissions aviation. Between 10 and 20 flights are expected as part of the test campaign, ahead of planned certification towards the end of the year.

The landmark flight forms part of the HyFlyer II project, a major R&D programme backed by the UK Government’s flagship ATI Programme, which targets development of a 600kW powertrain to support 9-19 seat aircraft worldwide with zero-emission flight.

The twin-engine aircraft was retrofitted to incorporate ZeroAvia’s hydrogen-electric engine on its left wing, which then operated alongside a single Honeywell TPE-331 stock engine on the right.

In this testing configuration, the hydrogen-electric powertrain comprises two fuel cell stacks, with lithium-ion battery packs providing peak power support during take-off and adding additional redundancy for safe testing. 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.

All systems performed “as expected”. This is the largest ZeroAvia engine tested to date, and places the company on the direct path to a certifiable configuration, with the programme also serving as key to unlocking speedy technology development for larger aircraft.

ZeroAvia’s 2-5 MW powertrain programme, already underway, will scale the clean engine technology for up to 90-seat aircraft, with further expansion into narrowbody aircraft demonstrators over the next decade.

The flight test campaign is being conducted under a full Part 21 flight permit with the UK CAA, which is a much more stringent set of requirements compared to the E-Conditions framework ZeroAvia used for its 6-seat prototype test flights in the prior years.

ZeroAvia will now work 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. Almost exactly two years ago, ZeroAvia conducted the first of more than 30 flights of a six-seat Piper Malibu aircraft using a 250kW hydrogen-electric powertrain.

Val Miftakhov, Founder and CEO of ZeroAvia – announcing the launch from Davos – said: “This is a major moment, not just for ZeroAvia, but for the aviation industry as a whole, as it shows that true zero-emission commercial flight is only a few years away.

“The first flight of our 19-seat aircraft shows just how scalable our technology is and highlights the rapid progress of zero-emission propulsion. This is only the beginning – we are building the future of sustainable, zero climate impact aviation. Our approach is the best solution to accelerate clean aviation at scale. Congratulations to everyone on our team and all of our partners and stakeholders for the collective effort that brought us to this monumental day in history.”

Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Business, said the global shift to cleaner forms of flight represents a huge opportunity to secure growth and jobs for the UK. “That’s why we are backing businesses who share our ambitions, reaping the benefits of green technology and growing the thousands of new, skilled jobs that come with it,” he said.

The maiden flight follows ZeroAvia’s six-seat prototype flights of a Piper M-Class airframe in 2019, and the world’s first commercial-scale six-seater hydrogen-electric powered flight in September 2020. The 2020 prototype was a part of the HyFlyer I programme in the UK. Unlike the previous tech demonstrator programme, ZeroAvia’s 600kW engine being developed under HyFlyer II is a commercial-intent programme.

Today’s historic first 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.

With 1,500 engines on pre-order, partnerships with seven aircraft manufacturers, and a number of fuel and airport partnerships, ZeroAvia is well positioned to lead the industry’s transformation to a clean future.