Alaska Airlines has presented a Bombardier Q400 regional turboprop to ZeroAvia for retrofitting with a hydrogen-electric propulsion system
"Aligning ZeroAvia’s powertrain with the Dash 8-400 airframe will represent a commercially viable zero-emission aircraft with fuel cell engine technology around five times more powerful than what has been demonstrated anywhere to date," Alaska announced on May 1.
“Demonstrating this size of aircraft in flight, powered entirely by novel propulsion, would have been unthinkable a few years ago,” said Val Miftakhov, founder and chief executive of ZeroAvia. “Launching this program puts us on track for a test flight next year, and accelerates our progress toward the future of zero-emission flight for Alaska Airlines and for the world at large.
”This is a great step forward in aviation innovation, to help create a new future of flight – right here at home,” said Alaska Airlines chief executive Ben Minicucci.
The handover took place at ZeroAvia’s Paine Field research and development site and was attended by Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, congresswoman Suzan DelBene.