ZeroAvia flies world’s largest aircraft powered with a hydrogen-electric engine

ZeroAvia’s 19-seat Dornier 228 testbed aircraft, retrofitted with a full-size prototype hydrogen-electric powertrain on the left wing of the aircraft, took off from the company’s R&D facility at the airport for the 10-minute flight that included a full pattern circuit.

The flight forms part of the HyFlyer II project, an R&D programme backed by the UK government’s 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.

ZeroAvia said that 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. 

In a statement, Val Miftakhov, founder and CEO of ZeroAvia 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.”  

Today’s exercise marked ZeroAvia’s largest engine test, placing the company on the path to a certifiable configuration to be finalised and submitted for certification in 2023. ZeroAvia’s active 2-5MW powertrain programme will scale the engine technology for up to 90-seat aircraft, with further expansion into narrowbody aircraft demonstrators over the next decade. 

ZeroAvia will now work towards its certifiable configuration 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. 

ZeroAvia’s HyFlyer II programme to develop its ZA-600 hydrogen-electric engine and retrofit the Dornier 228 is being delivered in partnership with EMEC and Aeristech and is supported by the UK government through the ATI Programme and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Innovate UK and Aerospace Technology Institute.