Monte to purchase 100 FC aircraft drives from ZeroAvia
ZeroAvia and Monte Aircraft Leasing will jointly market hydrogen-powered aircraft to regional operators. Under an agreement now signed between the companies, Monte will purchase up to 100 ZA600 hydrogen-electric powertrains from ZeroAvia to be installed on existing and new 5- to 20-seat aircraft.
Since last summer, ZeroAvia has been developing a hydrogen-electric powertrain for the conversion of aircraft with ten to 20 seats. The ZA600 is the 600 kW propulsion unit developed for the H2 aircraft announced in 2021.
According to the current announcement, the ZA600s will be installed in existing and new Cessna Caravan, DHC-6 Twin Otter, Dornier 228 and HAL-228 aircraft – the Dornier 228 is also ZeroAvia’s test carrier. The Cessna Caravan mentioned in the announcement is a single-engine turboprob aircraft, while all other models mentioned have two power units.
ZeroAvia also announces that it will “shortly” flight test the ZA600 powertrain in the Dornier 228. Initially, only one of the two drive units will be replaced so that the internal combustion engine in the test carrier provides a safe test condition. If the ZA600 proves successful, the second drive unit will also be exchanged in order to fly only with electricity from hydrogen.
“Our partnership is an important step in our journey towards becoming one of the world’s first zero-emission aircraft lessors and we look forward to working with the ZeroAvia team on offering financing solutions for turboprop operators,” said Timothy Eyre, investment director at Monte. James Peck, Vice President Business Development at ZeroAvia, adds: “This partnership will offer flexibility to operators to allow them to launch zero-emissions flights on their networks, as well as extending the lifespan of hundreds of in-service airframes.”
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