Critical players in the Australian aviation and green hydrogen industries have officially launched the Hydrogen Flight Alliance today at Brisbane Airport, with an aim to spearhead and continuously ensure Australia plays a leading role in the aviation industry’s transition towards net zero by 2050.
What is the Hydrogen Flight Alliance?
This newly formed alliance brings together leading Australian organizations to develop an efficiently safe and sustainable hydrogen flight ecosystem that will be required to enable commercial operations of future Australian-made emission-free aircraft. These new hydrogen-electric aircraft will be designed, tested, and certified by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to the same level of safety as conventional aircraft.
But although green hydrogen has the potential to contribute significantly to the decarbonization of air travel, challenges around the fuel’s availability at scale, future cost, and airport supply infrastructure need to be solved. With the formation of the Hydrogen Fuel Alliance, the consortium brings together the diverse mix of expertise required to make progress in these areas.
And the members of the Hydrogen Flight Alliance include:
- Aviation Australia
- Brisbane Airport
- BOC, a Linde Company
- Central Queensland University
- Gladstone Airport
- Griffith University
- H2 Energy Company
- Skytrans Airlines
- Stralis Aircraft
The formation of this alliance will establish a clean technology innovation hub in Queensland, generating world-class jobs, training programs, and emission-free aircraft manufacturing. Australia is an ideal location to trial hydrogen flight due to its abundance of renewable energy and developing green hydrogen industry. Celebrating this formation was Queensland Minister for Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen, the Honourable Mick de Brenni MP as he highlighted:
“Queensland’s green hydrogen industry is the next frontier in a world hungry for renewables and is our greatest climate, jobs, and economic opportunity in a generation. As the nation’s most decentralized state, this new alliance has an incredible opportunity to put Queensland in the cockpit to pilot the nation’s aviation clean energy revolution.”
What are their first steps?
Before getting to the final transition of a net zero aviation industry, the initial focus of the Hydrogen Flight Alliance will be enabling emission-free hydrogen-powered flights between Brisbane Airport and Gladstone Airport in 2026. Both cities already have significant green hydrogen developments underway, making them ideal locations to launch Australia’s first hydrogen-electric aircraft routes.
And this particular route will be operated by Skytrans Airlines, and it will be using a 15-seater Stralis B1900D-HE aircraft, currently being designed and built in Brisbane. Once completed and certified, the only emissions from the tailpipe of this aircraft should only be water vapor. On the other hand, Stralis Aircraft will also begin flight testing their own hydrogen-electric powered six-seater Beechcraft Bonanza demonstrator early next year.
Photo: Brisbane Airport
These test flights will occur in South East Queensland, allowing the Hydrogen Flight Alliance to gain real-world experience in operating and refueling hydrogen aircraft. If it all works out, the alliance plans to enable the vision of athletes flying around Queensland on locally built emission-free aircraft for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.