ZeroAvia and Birmingham Airport Partner to Make Zero-Emission Flights a Reality

ZeroAvia and the UK's Birmingham Airport (BHX) have announced a long-term partnership to make on-airfield hydrogen refuelling and regular domestic passenger flights of zero-emission aircraft a reality in the coming years. The airport plans to use a disused area as a potential location for hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, testing and operations.

ZeroAvia is currently working on bringing to market a zero-emission system capable of flying 20-seat aircraft 300 nautical miles by 2025.

Hydrogen-electric engines use hydrogen in fuel cells to generate electricity, which is then used to power electric motors to turn the aircraft’s propellers, with the only byproduct being water.

BHX has publicly committed to become a net-zero-carbon airport by 2033. It will do this by prioritising zero carbon airport operations with minimal use of carbon offsets.

Arnab Chatterjee, VP Infrastructure, ZeroAvia, says: “Birmingham Airport can be a central spoke in a green flight network in the UK, given that any domestic mainland destination will be reachable from the airport using our first systems in 2025. Given the commitments of the Jet Zero Strategy on domestic aviation, it is fantastic to engage with forward-thinking airports that want to be early innovators and developers to deliver the vision of bringing truly clean, quiet and pollution free flights to the UK.”

Simon Richards, Chief Finance & Sustainability Officer, Birmingham Airport, adds: “We are thrilled to partner with ZeroAvia on creating solutions to the main challenge of our generation – protecting the future of our planet. We could, quite conceivably, see the first hydrogen-powered domestic passenger flight taking off from BHX in the UK in a few years. That’s mind-blowing.”

Based in the UK and US, ZeroAvia has secured a number of key partnerships with major aircraft OEMs and major global airlines, and is on track for commercial operations in 2025.