UK-based ZeroAvia, a company that develops hydrogen-electric, zero-emission solutions for commercial aviation, has taken the next steps in its efforts to decarbonise the airport ecosystem.
The company announced on Tuesday, February 7, that it has collaborated with Shell, Rotterdam The Hague Airport and Rotterdam The Hague Innovation Airport to create a model for how hydrogen will operate at airports by the end of 2024.
The company will also plan demonstration flights to Europe before launching commercial passenger flights in 2025.
The development follows the cooperation commitment announced last year to launch the first hydrogen-electric commercial flight.
Miranda Janse, CEO of Rotterdam The Hague Innovation Airport (RHIA), says, “RHIA is actively working with partners within its DutcH2 Aviation Hub programme to develop hydrogen-driven flights from RTHA. This collaboration is one of the projects within the programme that helps us create the open-access infrastructure required for the sector.”
Decarbonising airport operations using hydrogen
With this development, the parties aim to serve the first hydrogen flight from Rotterdam, including operations at the airport, developing on-the-ground infrastructure and operations to satisfactorily pilot distribution, storage, and dispensing of hydrogen for aviation, leading towards decarbonising the entire airport ecosystem.
The project’s end goal is to facilitate aeroplane operations with their hydrogen-electric, zero-emission ZA600 engines from ZeroAvia. The parties want to build routes to European airports within a 250 nautical mile radius of Rotterdam for these specialised demonstration flights.
Arnab Chatterjee, VP Infrastructure at ZeroAvia, says, “Some first passengers on zero-emission flights in the world could be flying from Rotterdam. There is still a lot of work to do, but with clear milestones and targets identified, the hard work really starts now towards delivering the infrastructure and exploring the protocols and standards required.”
To facilitate the smooth introduction of the potential fuel, this project will also focus on the establishment of aviation-specific standards and practices around safety, refuelling, and hydrogen management.
In order to coordinate the initial demonstration flight and any following commercial flights, the parties will consult with possible airline operators.
Last month, ZeroAvia showcased a 19-seat aircraft’s first flight using its experimental ZA600 engine. The testing is part of HyFlyer II, an R&D project supported in part by the UK Government’s ATI programme.
The project has also seen the further development of ZeroAvia’s Hydrogen Airport Refuelling Ecosystem (HARE) demonstrator alongside project partner EMEC. Separately, ZeroAvia has developed a hydrogen refuelling pipeline at Cotswold Airport.
What does Shell bring to the table?
Shell will contribute technological know-how and crucial expertise to the project. This knowledge is based on global experiences with the design and operation of refuelling equipment, including hydrogen, and end-to-end hydrogen supply networks.
By investing in hydrogen production projects, Shell says it aims to develop regional and international hydrogen economies. The firm works with airports to create future-ready infrastructure as part of its decarbonisation initiatives, enabling it to provide clients with sustainable aviation fuel, hydrogen, and “multi-modular” infrastructure for charging electric planes.
Oliver Bishop, General Manager of Hydrogen at Shell, says, “This project and collaboration is a milestone as it enables rapid decarbonisation of a hard-to-electrify sector such as aviation. It also offers the chance to support one of the first international zero-emission passenger routes.”
“On top of that, it allows the opportunity to road test multi-fuel and multimodal fueling operations in a live airport environment. This is a big step forward for hydrogen aviation and for Shell’s plans in this space.” adds Bishop.
ZeroAvia has previously partnered with Shell to supply low carbon-intensity hydrogen in order to power parts of its testing and early commercial activities in California. Besides, Shell has also invested in ZeroAvia last year.
About ZeroAvia
ZeroAvia is a zero-emission aviation company, focused on hydrogen-electric aviation solutions to address a variety of markets, initially targeting a 300-mile range in 9–19 seat aircraft by 2025, and up to 700-mile range in 40–80 seat aircraft by 2027.
Based in the UK and the US, the company has already secured experimental certificates for two prototype aircraft from the CAA and FAA, passed significant flight test milestones, and is on track for commercial operations in 2025.
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