ZeroAvia and Birmingham Airport have started a long-term partnership with the goal of making on-airfield hydrogen refuelling and regular domestic passenger flights of zero-emission aircraft a reality in the coming years. The partnership is focused on enabling zero-emission, hydrogen-powered air travel.
The pioneer in zero-emission technologies, ZeroAvia has successfully test-flew hydrogen-electric aircraft at its base in Kemble, Gloucestershire, in January.
Hydrogen-electric engines produce only water as a byproduct by using hydrogen in fuel cells to create electricity, which is then utilised to drive electric motors that operate the airplane's propellers.
By 2025, a zero-emission technology developed by ZeroAvia should be able to carry 20-seat aircraft 300 nautical miles.
By the middle of this decade, it will be possible to take green flights from Birmingham to places like Glasgow, Aberdeen, Belfast, and Dublin.
By 2027, ZeroAvia hopes to have an emissions-free 80-seat aircraft travelling up to 1,000 nautical miles, making zero-emission travel to Mediterranean vacation spots a possibility.
According to BHX's "carbon strategy," which was announced in 2022, the relationship with ZeroAvia is a crucial step in the airport's effort to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by the year 2033.
In order to test and operate hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, the airport intends to use a spot close to its vacant Elmdon terminal building.
Given that all domestic mainland destinations will be reachable from the airport utilising our initial technologies in 2025, Birmingham Airport can be a hub in a green aviation network in the UK, according to Arnab Chatterjee, vice president of infrastructure for ZeroAvia. It is wonderful to work with forward-thinking airports that wish to be early adopters of innovation and development to realise the ambition of bringing completely clean, quiet, and pollution-free flights to the UK, given the promises of the Jet Zero Strategy on domestic aviation.
'We are happy to join with ZeroAvia on providing solutions to the fundamental concern of our generation - protecting the future of our planet,' said Simon Richards, Chief Financial & Sustainability Officer, Birmingham Airport.
In a few years, it's entirely conceivable that the first domestic passenger flight powered by hydrogen may take off from BHX in the UK. That is astounding.
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