H2FLY: New Milestone for Zero-Emission Flying Achieved

The German company H2FLY with its partners successfully passed the vibration and Leakage Test at Air Liquide. H2FLY is a developer of fuel cell technology and integrated a liquid hydrogen tank into the HY4 aircraft. This presents an important step for their Project HEAVEN program and for achieving zero-emission commercial flights operation.

The company is completely supplying the fuel cells for the HY4 aircraft, as well as controlling and coordinating the system implementations. The complete integration process in the HY4 aircraft will be completed in the following months, after which ground testing at the begging of 2023 is expected. Therefore, H2FLY will prepare for the first liquid hydrogen-electric aircraft operating commercially.

As said by Prof. Dr. Josef Kallo, the CEO and co-founder of H2FLY, “For the past 10 years, at H2fly we have been focused on developing and delivering new technology and now we look forward to completing the integration process so we can begin ground testing in preparation for the world’s first commercial liquid hydrogen-electric aircraft” adding that, “Passing the vibration and LH2 – leakage tests marks a big step forward for delivering true zero-emissions flight with increased range – we have now been able to kickstart the mechanical integration process, drawing even closer to this next exciting flight test phase”.

The company is doing research and testing the HY4 for over a decade and had its first flight with the aircraft in 2016. Previously this year, this aircraft managed to fly between two commercial airports in Germany (from Stuttgart to Friedrichshafen), by flying a distance of 77 mi (124 km). If everything goes according to plan, H2FLY will start with the future of sustainable zero-emission flying. It is expected that in the following years, such aircrafts are going to be able to transport passengers over distances up to 1 240 mi (2 000 km).

Image Credit: H2FLY