Zero-Emission Commercial Flights May Debut From Rotterdam

The Hague airport, Shell and ZeroAvia have signed a contract that may pave the way for operational passenger flights using revolutionary hydrogen-electric aircraft as soon as 2025.

ZeroAvia, with offices in the United Kingdom and the United States, has completed the first voyage of their 19-seat aircraft, which is propelled by a hydrogen-electric engine.

The new initiative at Rotterdam Airport seeks to establish the safety, refuelling, and hydrogen management requirements essential to the operation of such aircraft. In addition, the three groups want to initiate talks with prospective airline operators on the initial demo flights and the future commercial operations. The goal to develop links to European airports within 250 nm of Rotterdam is what ZeroAvia's inaugural flights with its emission-free, hydrogen-electric aircraft are all about.

It is expected that test flights to European locations may begin by the end of next year, and that commercial flights can begin by 2025, all thanks to the new cooperative agreement between the three businesses.

The partnership approach "moves the ball a significant distance down the field towards the goal line of commercial operations," as ZeroAvia's vice president of infrastructure, Arnab Chatterjee, put it.

“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”, Chatterjee explained.

In order to power some of ZeroAvia's early business activities in California, Shell has already supplied the company with low carbon-intensity hydrogen. The aviation company ZeroAvia has also received funding from the oil giant.

Wilma Van Dijk, CEO of Rotterdam The Hague airport, also commented about the joint efforts:

“Hydrogen is key to decarbonise aviation. This collaboration helps us demonstrate and validate new airport infrastructure requirements as well as concepts of operation, and hence accelerate and stimulate airport transformation towards zero-emission.”

According to the company's most recent plans, ZeroAvia hopes to achieve an initial range of 300 miles for its aircraft that will have 9-19 seats by the year 2027, and up to a range of 700 miles for an aircraft designed to accommodate 40-80 passengers.

 

source: businesstravelnewseurope.com