The large investment from the UK government and aviation industry will boost their progress to meeting the net-zero national goals and creating a zero-emission form of transportation, following many other large industries. The investments made will go towards making the way we travel, by air, a much greener and effective form of transport with minimal impact on our environment.

The £84 million boost is a part of a wider collaboration of £3.9 billion which will be contributed by both industry and government for the R&D of aerospace projects between 2013 and 2026 as part of the ‘Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution’.

The projects that will receive the investment funding will be as follows:

£54.4 million over 5 years with £27.2 million grant GKN – The H2GEAR project will focus on the development of liquid hydrogen propulsion systems. These will be used for a regional, short distance, air travel but can be scaled up when necessary.

£24.6 million over 2 years with £12.3 million grant ZeroAvia – Their HyFlyer 2 project will be upscaled to potentially achieve commercial zero-emission flights by 2023. It currently produces zero-emission engines on small aircraft.

£5.6 million over 2 years with £2.8 million grant Blue Bear Systems – The InCEPTion project’s development in 100% electric-powered propulsion should allow for fast, quiet and zero-emission flight to be used for short distances.

These 3 projects will create almost 5,000 jobs within manufacturing, engineering and design industry in the process of innovating and revolutionising aviation technology to become a net-zero industry. As well as completely changing the way we travel by making aviation viable transport for much shorter distances as we reduce the emissions. The funding will come from both the government and the industry in an equal split.

As we move towards a future that will see more people using aircraft for short-distance travel there will be less congestion on the roads for ground vehicles. This will allow the aviation industry to form something similar to a taxi service which will open up many new opportunities of its own. This future vision could be fast approaching as the development of aircraft effective and green enough for that type of use could be in commercial production by 2023.

Paul Scully, Minister for Business, comments that:

“These trailblazing projects are broadening the horizons of future air travel, towards a greener future where we may be able to hail taxis from the sky rather than on our streets.”