Shell has signed an agreement with hydrogen-electric aviation developer Zeroavia and Dutch airports Rotterdam-The Hague Airport and Rotterdam-The Hague Innovation Airport to collaborate on serving the first hydrogen-powered flights from Rotterdam. The partners aim for demonstration flights to European destinations by the end of 2024 and the first commercial passenger flights by 2025.

The project will focus on supporting aircraft operations using gaseous hydrogen to fuel Zeroavia’s hydrogen-electric ZA600 engines, with demonstration flights to take place on routes to airports within 250 nautical miles of Rotterdam. Last month, Zeroavia completed its first ten-minute test flight of a 19-seat aircraft powered by a prototype of its ZA600 engine at an R&D facility in the UK.

The parties will also work together in discussions with potential airline operators for the initial demonstration and subsequent commercial flights.

”This is a big step forward for hydrogen aviation and for Shell’s plans in this space” Bishop, Shell

“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,” says Arnab Chatterjee, vice-president for infrastructure at Zeroavia.

Shell is a strategic investor in Zeroavia. Last year, the two firms announced an agreement for Shell to supply low-carborn hydrogen for Zeroavia’s testing and commercial operations in California.

“This project and collaboration is a milestone as it enables a rapid decarbonisation of a hard-to-electrify sector such as aviation,” says Oliver Bishop, general manager for hydrogen at Shell.

“It also offers the chance to support one of the first international zero-emission passenger routes. On top of that, it allows the opportunity to road test multi-fuel and multimodal fuelling operations in a live airport environment,” he adds. “This is a big step forward for hydrogen aviation and for Shell’s plans in this space.”

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Author: Polly Martin