UK's ZeroAvia Flies World’s Largest Aircraft Powered With a Hydrogen-Electric Engine

The UK's ZeroAvia has made history by flying the largest aircraft in the world to be powered by a hydrogen-electric engine. ZeroAvia took to the skies for the maiden flight of its 19-seat Dornier 228 testbed aircraft, retrofitted with a full-size prototype hydrogen-electric powertrain on the left wing of the aircraft.

The flight took place from the company’s R&D facility in Gloucestershire, UK, and lasted 10 minutes.

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

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. 

ZeroAvia will now work towards its certifiable configuration in order to deliver commercial routes using the technology by 2025.

Based in the UK and US, ZeroAvia has already secured experimental certificates for its twoprototype aircraft from the CAA and FAA.

Val Miftakhov, ZeroAvia, Founder and CEO, says: “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.”

In 2021, ZeroAvia conducted the first of more than 30 flights of a six-seat Piper Malibu aircraft using a 250kW hydrogen-electric powertrain.