ZeroAvia Teams up with Shell, Rotterdam The Hague Airport

DALLAS - ZeroAvia, which is developing the first zero-emission power plant for commercial aviation, has announced that it has signed a collaboration with fuel supplier Shell and Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM). The agreement promises to deliver hydrogen-powered commercial passenger services by 2025, with demonstration flights within a 250-mile radius of RTM.

To support these flights, the interested parties will also work together to develop a concept of hydrogen operations at airports. This includes storage and dispensing facilities for the hydrogen, with the plan to decarbonize the whole airport ecosystem.

ZeroAvia, whose investors include British Airways (BA) ad Alaska Airlines (AS), recently made history, flying the world’s largest aircraft powered with a hydrogen-electric ZA600 engine. The 19-seat Dornier 228 took to the skies on January 19 from Cotswold Airport in Gloucestershire, UK. No announcement has been made about the aircraft used for the new plans, but the ZA600 power plant has been confirmed.

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Arnab Chatterjee, VP Infrastructure, ZeroAvia, said, “Having this consortium, including Rotterdam The Hague Innovation Airport and Shell, moves the ball a significant distance down the field towards our goal line of commercial operations.

“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.”

Meanwhile, Oliver Bishop, General Manager Hydrogen at Shell, added, “This project and collaboration is a milestone as it enables a rapid decarbonization 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.”

https://airwaysmag.com/future-of-aviation/

Featured Image: ZeroAvia.