One of British best-known climate activists and industrialists and founder of Ecotricity, the ‘world’s first green energy company’, unveiled plans to launch by 2024 the ‘first electric airline powered by renewable energy’. Ecojet, as the new airline is called, will operate planes converted to hydrogen fuel cells by 2025 from Edinburgh to start, expanding through Europe later.

Multi-millionaire Dale Vince says he’s looking to spark “the biggest revolution in the aviation industry since the invention of the jet engine”. Born in Norfolk (UK), he founded Ecotricity in 1995 and launched his first wind turbine in 1996. Ecotricity was the first in the UK to sell pure green electricity to consumers, which it now primarily generates from its 87,2-megawatt wind parks.

Former SN Brussels Airlines CEO

Dale Vince decided to sell Ecotricity in 2022 to focus on politics and other renewable projects. Ecojet – not to be confused with Bolivian domestic airline EcoJet – is to start operations with flights from the Scottish capital Edinburgh to Southampton, a distance of 308 nautical miles or 571 km.

He already started assembling a team of specialists around him with former Flybe pilot Brent Smith and British aviation expert Peter Davies. The latter was the first CEO of the reborn SN Brussels Airlines company in 2002 after the bankruptcy of Belgium’s national Sabena airline, among others.

On board, steps will be taken to further reduce the aviation industry’s impact, including serving plant-based meals, eliminating single-use plastic, and issuing staff environmentally-friendly uniforms, a press release issued by Ecotricity states.

Burning kerosene at first

At first, Ecojet will use conventional 19-passenger aircraft burning kerosene to switch to converted planes equipped with advanced 600 kW ZeroAvia engines by 2025. Later, the airline plans to expand to larger planes with +70 seats and longer distances.

The British-American start-up ZeroAvia is developing a 19-seater twin-engined airplane for short-haul flights, capable of covering a range of 500 nautical miles or 916 km. ZeroAvia was the first to feature a six-seater H2-powered electric airplane passenger flight in September 2020.

Test phase completed

ZeroAvia just announced the completion of its initial prototype ZA600 flight testing campaign at Cotswold Airport in the UK. The company says the fuel cell power generation and electric propulsion system, which are the core components of the novel zero-emission engine, “performed at or above expectations”.

Hydrogen-electric engines use hydrogen in fuel cells to generate electricity, which is then used to power electric motors to turn the aircraft’s propellers. The only emission is low-temperature water, with studies finding above 90 percent total climate effect reduction, ZeroAvia claims.

ZeroAvia acquired two twin-engine, 19-seat Dornier 228 aircraft from Guernsey’s regional airline Aurigny and AMC Aviation, which used the planes on regional services. They are converted with fuel cell-powered engines and are used to certify them for commercial use from 2024.

UK Government fund

The Hyflyer II test and demonstration planes – one stationed in Kemble (UK) and one at the company’s site in Hollister (California) – are retrofitted with two 600-kW electric engines and fuel cells. They have a tank capacity of 100 kg of compressed hydrogen, giving the planes a range of 500 nautical miles.

For the 19-seater Hyflyer II project, ZeroAvia secured a £12,3 million (€14,3 million) UK Government grant after showing a successful Hyflyer I program with a converted Piper M-class six-seater with a 250-kW powertrain. That became the world’s first hydrogen-powered passenger plane in September 2020.

The company says it has already received 1 500 orders worldwide for the ZA600 model and is working on a more powerful 2,4 MW propulsion system for a 78-seater Bombardier CRF 700 aircraft.

Dutch or Brits first?

Dale Vince is not the only one dreaming of starting a zero-emission airline. In October 2021, ZeroAvia signed an agreement with Dutch aviation partners to realize a zero-emission one-hour flight route with a 19-seat airplane on hydrogen between London and The Hague Airport (RTHA) in Rotterdam.

ZeroAvia and Royal Schiphol Group said at that time, they are in advanced talks with airlines to exploit the new route. Targeted for 2024, this would probably be one of the world’s first commercial international routes with hydrogen planes.

Partners Royal Schiphol Group, Rotterdam, The Hague Innovation Airport Foundation, and the RTHA airport have agreed on a timeline to work on legislation, integrating hydrogen fueling infrastructure in the airport processes and setting up the commercial infrastructure.