ZeroAvia has announced an agreement with Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM), energy giant Shell and Rotterdam The Hague Innovation Airport, the organisation that promotes this Dutch airport as a hub for new aviation technologies, to develop a concept of hydrogen-powered operations.
The goal of the partnership, which was announced on February 7, 2023, is to prepare the ground for the hypothetical launch of hydrogen-powered demonstration flights to European destinations by the end of 2024 and, provided the regulatory and technical requirements are met, of commercial passenger flights by 2025.
Rotterdam The Hague Innovation Airport is strategically located in one of Europe’s most densely populated areas, which means that there are plenty of destinations within a 250-mile range.
The goal of this project is also to act as a test bank for a whole range of processes and technologies that should enable the development of a hydrogen supply chain and industrial and logistical ecosystem at an airport, including transportation, storage and supply of this gas, as well as the protocols and procedures necessary to manage it in an airport environment.
ZeroAvia appears to be on a roll. Just a few days prior, the hydrogen fuel-cell startup successfully completed the first flight of a Dornier Do228 aircraft powered by its ZA600 hydrogen powertrain. That 10-minute flight over the English countryside marked an important milestone with the 19-seater becoming the largest aircraft to date to have flown powered by this technology.