ZeroAvia and the airport plan to work together to make on-airfield hydrogen refuelling and regular domestic passenger flights of zero-emission aircraft “a reality”.

Hydrogen-electric engines use hydrogen in fuel cells to generate electricity, which powers electric motors to turn the aircraft’s propellers. The only emission is water and ZeroAvia has already flown a prototype at its base at Kemble in January. 

ZeroAvia is working on bringing to market a zero-emission system capable of flying 20-seat aircraft 300 nautical miles by 2025. The airport said this opened up the possibility of “green” air travel from Birmingham to destinations including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Belfast, Isle of Man and Dublin “by the middle of this decade”.

ZeroAvia is also aiming to produce an emissions-free 80-seat aircraft flying up to 1,000 nautical miles by 2027.

Birmingham airport plans to use an area on its airfield for hydrogen refueling infrastructure, testing and operations.

“Birmingham airport can be a central hub in a green flight network in the UK, given that any domestic mainland destination will be reachable from the airport using our first systems in 2025,” said Arnab Chatterjee, ZeroAvia’s vice president infrastructure.  

Simon Richards, Birmingham airport’s chief finance and sustainability officer, said: “We could, quite conceivably, see the first hydrogen-powered domestic passenger flight taking off from BHX in the next few years. That’s mind-blowing.”