Universal Hydrogen has successfully completed a 40-passenger regional airliner flight in the US using hydrogen fuel cell propulsion.
The aircraft, nicknamed Lightning McClean, left Grant County International Airport (KMWH) and flew for 15 minutes.
The flight was held under an FAA Special Airworthiness Certificate, and is the first in a two-year flight test campaign expected to culminate in 2025 with entry into passenger service of ATR 72 regional aircraft converted to run on hydrogen.
Representatives from Connect Airlines and Amelia, the US and European launch customers for the hydrogen airplanes respectively witnessed the historic flight.
The company’s rapidly growing order book includes 247 aircraft conversions from 16 customers worldwide, with more than US$1 billion in conversions backlog and over US$2 billion in fuel services over the first 10 years of operation.
“Today will go down in the history books as the true start to the decarbonization of the global airline industry and we at Connect Airlines are extremely proud of the role that we, as the first US operator, will play in leading the way with Universal Hydrogen,” said
Connect Airlines will begin regional turboprop service shortly and has placed a first-position US order with Universal Hydrogen to convert 75 ATR 72-600 regional airplanes to hydrogen powertrains with purchase rights for 25 additional aircraft conversions.
Deliveries will start in 2025.
“We have committed to being North America’s first zero-emission airline and this historic flight, taking hydrogen, which can be made with nothing but sunshine and emitting only water, is a key milestone on our journey,” says Connect Airlines chief executive John Thomas.
Amelia president Alain Regourd adds the technology and improved government regulations can again make aviation a beacon of technological optimism.
In the test flight one of the airplane’s turbine engines was replaced with Universal Hydrogen’s fuel cell-electric, megawatt-class powertrain while the other remained a conventional engine for safety.
“During the second circuit over the airport, we were comfortable with the performance of the hydrogen powertrain, so we were able to throttle back the fossil fuel turbine engine to demonstrate cruise principally on hydrogen power,” says chief test pilot Alex Kroll.
“The airplane handled beautifully, and the noise and vibrations from the fuel cell powertrain are significantly lower than from the conventional turbine engine.”
The company’s powertrain is built around Plug Power’s ProGen family of fuel cells specially modified for aviation use, with the powertrain not using a battery as the fuel cells drive the electric motor directly—drastically reducing weight and cost.
The motor, a modified magni650 electric propulsion unit, and power electronics were supplied by Everett-based MagniX.
Seattle-based AeroTEC assisted with engineering efforts, including design of the modified nacelle structure, aircraft systems design and integration, as well as aircraft modifications and installation of the Universal Hydrogen powertrain onto the flight test aircraft.
The test flight comes on the back of successful demonstrations in December 2022 of Universal Hydrogen’s modular hydrogen logistics system at the company’s engineering centre in Toulouse, France.
“The airplanes are converted to hydrogen using an aftermarket retrofit conversion kit, tackling the existing fleet rather than developing a brand-new airplane,” says Universal Hydrogen co-founder and chief executive Paul Eremenko.
“And hydrogen fuelling uses modular capsules compatible with existing freight networks and airport cargo handling equipment, making every airport in the world hydrogen-ready.”
The company, backed by GE Aviation, Airbus Ventures, Toyota Ventures, JetBlue Ventures, and American Airlines, as well as several of the world’s largest green hydrogen producers and top-tier financial investors, plans to springboard from regional airplanes to larger ones and to hydrogen fuel deliveries for other mobility applications using its modular logistics network.
