UK claims 'world first' in zero carbon flight

 

Zero-carbon flight moved a step closer on Friday when a six-seat plane powered by a hydrogen fuel cell took off from an airfield in the UK.

A Piper M-class six-seat plane adapted by ZeroAvia took off on 25 September from Cranfield airfield in Bedfordshire, where the company has an R&D facility, and successfully completed taxi, takeoff, a full pattern circuit, and landing. It moves beyond the 2016 flight of a hydrogen-powered concept plane called HY4 from Stuttgart.

Val Miftakhov, ZeroAvia CEO, said: “While some experimental aircraft have flown using hydrogen fuel cells as a power source, the size of this commercially available aircraft shows that paying passengers could be boarding a truly zero-emission flight very soon.”

The flight forms part of the HyFlyer project, a programme to decarbonise medium range small passenger aircraft supported by the UK government. ZeroAvia is now working on a 250-mile zero emission flight out of an airfield in Orkney before the end of the year.

The successful test flight also marked the next step in the establishment of the Jet Zero Council, a group of parties from aviation, technology and government interested in zero carbon flight. The group, which had its first meeting in June, used the occasion to publish its list of members and key aims.

The council includes Alex Cruz of IAG, John Holland-Kaye from Heathrow Airport, ZeroAvia's Val Miftakhov and representatives of Rolls-Royce, Airbus and Shell as well as government ministers.

Aviation minister Robert Courts, who was in Cranfield to witness the ZeroAvia flight, said: “The council, which will establish sub-committees to accelerate progress, will focus on reducing carbon dioxide emissions and delivering clean growth. It will operate in the context of the UK’s wider target for net zero emissions by 2050 – one of the most ambitious targets in the world.”

 

https://www.businesstravelnewseurope.com/Air-Travel/UK-claims-world-first-in-zero-carbon-flight