ZeroAvia has cemented its agreement with MONTE Aircraft Leasing (MONTE), converting its existing MOU for up to 100 engines to a definitive purchase agreement.
For ZeroAvia, this deal represents an important commercial milestone with the first ZA600 build slots being secured by MONTE. As ZeroAvia begins to plan for its production facilities, a good proportion of initial manufacturing capacity is now “under commitment”, says the company.
MONTE and ZeroAvia aim to retrofit nine-19 seat aircraft with ZA600 powertrains for airline operators starting in 2025, while also providing financing, infrastructure, maintenance and hydrogen availability services to support these operations.
ZeroAvia is working to certify ZA600, a 600kW powertrain designed to support 9-19 seat aircraft, with the Cessna Grand Caravan planned as the launch airframe. With the first phase of prototype flight testing almost complete, the company is on track to meet its 2025 certification timeline.
“As well as the huge technical and design milestones we are clearing, in tandem we are making enormous commercial progress, which means that operators will be able to fly lower cost, truly clean aircraft, sooner,” says James Peck, chief customer officer, ZeroAvia. “Given its pure play focus on decarbonization, MONTE is a great partner for us and we believe they will be at the forefront of enabling these early green operations in a growing market.”
Timothy Eyre, chief operating officer, MONTE, added: “Through this partnership, we have strengthened MONTE’s position in the zero-emission, regional turboprop market and enhanced our ability to offer operators solutions to decarbonize their fleets. We look forward to continuing our work with the ZeroAvia team as we continue on our journey to become one of the world’s first zero-emission aircraft lessors.”