Thursday 8 June saw stakeholders in Australia’s aviation sector launch the Hydrogen Flight Alliance (HFA) at Brisbane Airport, with the aim of ensuring Australia plays a leading role in the aviation industry’s transition towards net zero by 2050.
The initial focus will be on enabling Australia’s first commercial emission-free hydrogen-powered flight between Brisbane and Gladstone Airport in 2026. Operated by Skytrans Airlines on a 15-seat Stralis B1900-HE aircraft, the only emissions from the tailpipe of this aircraft will be water vapour.
Designed and built in Brisbane, Stralis will begin flight testing their hydrogen electric-powered six-seat Beechcraft Bonanza demonstrator aircraft in early 2024. The flights will take place in South East Queensland, allowing the alliance to gain real world experience operating and refuelling hydrogen aircraft.
Commenting on the launch of HFA, Raechel Paris, Executive General Manager, Governance & Sustainability at Brisbane Airport Corporation, said: “Brisbane Airport supports the ambition of a zero emissions aviation future with aircraft that are cleaner, cheaper and quieter to run. With Queensland home to the largest number of regional flights in Australia, Brisbane is the perfect testing ground for zero emissions aircraft.”
Paris was joined by Bob Criner, co-founder and CEO of Stralis Aircraft, who said: “The HFA allows us to answer the most common question we hear from airline customers, which is how they will access affordable green hydrogen at airports in the future. This is not a problem we can solve on our own, it requires industry collaboration.”
With green hydrogen having the potential to contribute significantly to the decarbonisation of air travel, challenges around the fuel’s availability at scale, future cost and airport supply infrastructure need to be resolved. As such, consortiums like HFA bring together the diverse mix of expertise required to make progress in this space.
