ZeroAvia on a roll at the Farnborough Air Show - UPDATED
As expected, this edition of the Farnborough air show had a super strong sustainable aviation programme.
Very much on trend, show-goers basked in the hottest temperatures ever registered in the UK, which, I guess, may have helped impress a sense of urgency on all those involved in the business of decarbonizing aviation.
One of the firms that seems to currently be on a roll is a long-time presence on this site. ZeroAvia had quite a few announcements to make at Farnborough.
First it was the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with PowerCell, a Swedish company that makes hydrogen-powered fuel cells. The two companies will collaborate in the development and production of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell stacks for the aircraft ZeroAvia is planning to retrofit.
Next was the order from Ravn Alaska for 30 ZA2000 powertrains. This is an interesting deal for a number of reasons. First the fact that it is a large order on its own right. But also because Ravn Alaska is at the center of an emerging airline group in the US, which includes also the Northern Pacific (the new US-Asia carrier), FLOAT (a commuter airline for the LA areas and Southern California) and Flycoin, a blockchain-based loyalty programme for airlines.
Ravn, which intends to retrofit its Dash 8 turboprop fleet with ZeroAvia’s hydrogen powertrains, had also announced, a few months back, a 50 strong order with Airflow (a hybrid-electric aviation startup since acquired by Electra.aero). This is, by the way, not the only connection between ZeroAvia and the US largest and nothernmost state, Alaska Airlines is also an early investor!
Because here, at Allplane, try to stay always on top of the latest trends :) we’ve got you covered in case you wish to learn more about each and everyone of these projects, because we’ve got some of the minds behind them here on the podcast. You can listen for example to the following episodes:
Podcast with Tom Hsieh, president of Ravn and Flycoin and Leeny Moon, CEO of Flycoin
Podcast with Edmond Huot, designer of the Northern Pacific Airways brand and livery
Also on the financial side, ZeroAvia announced new investors keep joining the project. The latest to be announced are British bank Barclays, through its Sustainable Impact Capital Programme, as well as IAG, which was already an investor, US impact fund AENU and, very interestingly, NEOM, the futuristic city-development project in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea. The latter is a large scale endeavour with quite a few aeronautical components, I had the chance to learn about it at the recent Future Aviation Forum in Riyadh and is a topic I plan on revisiting soon.
Last (so far) but not least, ZeroAvia is also to cooperate with Edmonton international Airport to develop hydrogen infrastructure, both for gaseous and liquid hydrogen, to supply the aviation industry in Canada.
You may have noticed that, just as NEOM is being promoted by an oil-funded state, Edmonton is in Alberta, a province whose economy has been quite tied to fossil fuels as well (as is also, by the way, that other green aviation champion, Norway!). Skeptics have pointed out that hydrogen is seen as evolutionary by the fossil fuel industry. Maybe…but, aviation may, actually, be one of its legit use cases.
UPDATE (22/7/22)
Shortly after publishing this post, some more news trickled in.
It seems that ZeroAvia will also have a role in the other large urban-tourism development project currently underway in Saudi Arabia.
The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) has signed a MoU with ZeroAvia to test its hydrogen fuel cell powertrains and, tentatively use it on site. The Red Sea Development Company plans to operate a fleet of 30 Cessna Caravan aircraft within its territory, which comprises a number of islands off the west coast of Saudi Arabia where several resorts will be built.
ZeroAvia’s founder and CEO, Val Miftakhov, along with other key ZeroAvia executives, was actually one of the guests at the aforementioned Future Aviation Summit in Riyadh in May 2022, so I guess that was a productive trip!
Val Miftakhov, ZeroAvia, at the Future Aviation Forum in Saudi Arabia, in May 2022