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Zero Avia recently grabbed headlines for successfully flying the world’s largest hydrogen and battery-powered aircraft. The startup’s main operations are in California and the United Kingdom — last week’s test flight was at an airport west of London — but the green aviation company has also touched down in the Pacific Northwest.
ZeroAvia has its R&D operations at Paine Field in Everett, Wash. And it’s growing the workforce in the area. Washington state, the historic home of aerospace heavyweight Boeing, is becoming increasingly attractive to ZeroAvia and aviation newcomers such as Magnix, Evion and Universal Hydrogen.
The startups are striving to develop climate-friendly alternatives to fossil-fuel-based flights. This includes hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen gas burned in combustion engines, batteries and technological compounds.
GeekWire caught up with Sergey Kiselev, ZeroAvia’s European Vice President, to learn more about the latest flight developments and developments in the Pacific Northwest.
Lessons learned from test flight
Zero Avia It was launched in 2017 and made its first test flight in 2020 as a six-seater hydrogen-electric powered aircraft. The aircraft, a 19-seat Dornier 228, presented enormous technical and regulatory challenges and required the business to take off. Growing fast to maintain speed. Since that early flight, Kiselev said, “We basically professionalized our little company.”
The Dornier 228 was equipped with the company’s hydrogen-electric powertrain prototype on the left wing and a gasoline-powered engine on the other.
“The systems worked as predicted,” Kiselev said. “We were happy that the hydrogen fuel cell had a very stable behavior. There were no surprises. One more thing: the power plant produced more pressure than expected.
Spread over the pine field
Under the deal with Alaska Airlines, ZeroAvia will begin conducting R&D in two hangars at Paine Field in February. The company recently entered into a lease agreement for field use of a third hangar.
At this new location, ZeroAvia will take delivery of de Havilland Q400 aircraft from Alaska. The startup plans to outfit the 76-seater aircraft with hydrogen-electric power for demonstration purposes.
The company still hasn’t decided where its North American manufacturing location will be as it expands, Kiselev said, but Washington state is still in the works. The startup has about 30 employees in Seattle and Everett and expects to double that number in the near future.
Could a Boeing deal be in the works?
Boeing still has significant operations in Everett – could a partnership between the old and new guard be taking shape?
Zeroavia is in talks with several aircraft manufacturers, Kiselev said, “and Boeing is one of them. We can’t share anything publicly at this time, but Boeing is certainly thinking about how to develop the sustainability space.
The startup is realizing the benefits of the aviation titan’s presence, which includes the region’s experienced aerospace workforce and well-developed supply chain.
“It’s already kind of collaborative,” Kiselev said. “We benefit from Boeing’s existence, and we look forward to building a deeper relationship with them.”
Predictions on the first commercial flights
ZeroAvia is seeking commercial flights powered by hydrogen fuel cells by 2025. The company chose the Cessna Caravan, an aircraft first created in 1982, which can typically carry nine passengers, as its “airframe initiator,” Kiselev said.
So where can passengers book tickets on ZeroAvia’s first commercial flights?
“That’s a good question,” Kiselev said. The answer is usually approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration or its UK equivalent, the Civil Aviation Authority.
Still, Kiselev leans toward the U.S. “The launch customer is likely to be in the U.S.,” he said.
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