ZeroAvia CEO Val Miftakhov (left) and Maarten Koopmans, KLM Cityhopper MD, at a signing ceremony during Farnborough Airshow.
FARNBOROUGH—KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has agreed to perform a flight demonstration of ZeroAvia’s ZA2000 hydrogen-electric engines in 2026.
“We’re going to do a groundbreaking demonstration flight between two airports using liquid hydrogen fuel,” KLM CityHopper MD Maarten Koopmans says at the Farnborough Airshow. “KLM wants to be a front-runner in this field, and taking this step today is showing that we are very serious about it.”
ZeroAvia’s ZA2000 is being designed for large regional turboprops with a capacity of up to 80 seats. For the KLM demo, the testbed will be an ATR 72-sized part 25 aircraft, according to ZeroAvia CEO Val Miftakhov, who intends to announce a specific selection further down the line.
Next steps before the initial A-to-B flight demo include identifying the optimal airport pair, working toward regulatory permits to fly, ensuring a supply of liquid hydrogen fuel and putting in place the supporting infrastructure for aircraft fueling. The companies describe their collaboration as providing an evidence base for the adoption of cleaner flight across KLM’s network, with the potential to accelerate development of concepts of operations for hydrogen aircraft across the EU.
ZeroAvia has performed advanced ground tests of key technologies for the ZA2000 system, including its cryogenic tanks and proprietary High Temperature Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell and electric propulsion systems. The partnership with KLM represents an expansion on an existing relationship, the two having signed an MOU in October 2023 for technician training and component support.
“The world’s largest airlines are diving in to explore hydrogen-electric as a potential solution with increasing seriousness,” says ZeroAvia CCO James Peck. Though its engines are currently designed to power smaller aircraft, ZeroAvia aims to build on each successive step and ultimately provide the zero-emission technology suitable for a large portion of the market.
Miftakhov adds, “Once we have the technologies that can power all the successive sizes of aircraft, that's where we think the market will move.”
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