ZeroAvia Makes Aviation History, Flying World’s Largest Aircraft Powered with a Hydrogen-Electric Engine

• 19-seat Dornier 228 twin-engine aircraft takes to the sky in testbed configuration for first flight as part of the HyFlyer II project.

• Milestone moves ZeroAvia forward on the way to meeting target of commercial flights using only hydrogen fuel cell power by 2025, and scaling the engine technology to larger airframes.

• Marks a significant step in addressing aviation’s climate change impact and a major innovation success for the UK Government’s Jet Zero Strategy.

The largest aeroplane in the world to be propelled by a hydrogen-electric engine, flown by ZeroAvia, marked a significant advancement in zero-emission flight. The pioneer in zero-emission aviation went to the sky for the first time with its 19-seat Dornier 228 testbed aircraft. The aircraft’s left wing has been retrofitted with a full-size prototype hydrogen-electric powerplant.

Comparison between Dornier-228 v/s Indonesian N219(Opens in a new browser tab)

The flight took place from the company’s R&D facility at Cotswold Airport in Gloucestershire, UK, and lasted 10 minutes. At 13.35 pm GMT this afternoon the aircraft completed taxi, take-off, a full pattern circuit, and landing. 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.

Top 6 Largest Passenger Aircraft in the World.(Opens in a new browser tab)

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 to be finalized and submitted for certification in 2023, with this 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.

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.