UK government backs four hydrogen aviation projects with £3.6 million

Four hydrogen-focused aviation projects are set to share £3.6 million in UK government funding as part of the first round of the Department for Transport’s zero-emission flight demonstrator competition, part of a wider £7.3 million package supporting eight projects across hydrogen and electric flight.

ZeroAvia secured the largest hydrogen award, £2.1 million, for its HyPrime liquid hydrogen airport refuelling and infrastructure project, delivered in partnership with UlemCo, GeoPura, and Bristol and Birmingham airports, with the grant covering almost two-thirds of the scheme’s costs.

Engineering firm Badgerworks won £1.2 million to develop cryogenic ground systems for liquid hydrogen-fuelled aircraft at airports, covering more than three-quarters of its projected costs. The grants, which fund work lasting up to two years starting in August, sit alongside separate awards for electric aircraft projects, including flying-taxi developers BETA Technologies and Vertical Aerospace.

The funding forms part of a broader £43 million package for green aviation research announced earlier this year and follows a £2.3 billion decade-long commitment to the Aerospace Technology Institute Programme.

The Department for Transport said the awards were intended to support safe handling of hydrogen and electric aircraft at UK airports and to help deliver net-zero aviation by 2050, building on the Civil Aviation Authority’s DfT-funded Hydrogen Challenge programme, which has already brought together organisations including Rolls-Royce, easyJet and Exeter Airport to explore the practicalities of hydrogen-powered flight.