One of the world’s most widely-used turbo-prop planes, the De Havilland Dash-8 will soon be tested with a hydrogen-electric engine from ZeroAvia, with a goal of full commercial operation within five years.
The two companies have signed an agreement to build a demonstrator, using an existing Dash-8, and to work toward approval for ZeroAvia’s engines to be both an option in new planes and a drop-in retrofit for existing ones. A customer is waiting in the wings: ZeroAvia has a deal with Alaska Airlines for an engine capable of flying over 500 miles with 76 passengers.
ZeroAvia’s engines have been repeatedly tested in a variety of small aircraft, and has planned scaling up for larger planes from the beginning. It has recently been flying a 19-passenger plane with one conventional engine and one hydrogen-electric, and will test the same plane in coming weeks with two hydrogen engines.
