Australian technology company Stralis has predicted they will conduct the first piloted hydrogen-electric powered flight in the Southern Hemisphere sometime next year.
Brisbane Airport-based Stralis is developing hydrogen-electric fuel cell technology using two Beechcraft Bonanza test beds named Bonnie and Clyde.
Stralis CEO and co-founder Bob Criner predicted the flight milestone in an update the company provided to the GA community this week.
"We can't wait to share what we have in store for 2025," Criner said, "including the first piloted hydrogen-electric flight in the Southern Hemisphere."
Criner said the Stralis team had had an "incredible" 2024 with several milestones met.
"The team is now pushing hard to do some exciting tests," Criner added. "This is a 60-kW fuel cell system that we're going to use to run Clyde.
"This will be the first time hydrogen has been used to run a propulsion system at an international airport in Australia."
Prior to the first piloted flight, Stralis will begin testing with low- and high-temperature proton exchange membranes (LTPEM and HTPEM) fuel cell stacks, liquid hydrogen tests, and integration with the hydrogen-electric Bonanza test articles.
They will also use liquid-hydrogen for the first time, but testing is scheduled to take place in Christchurch, NZ, rather than at Brisbane Airport.
Stralis' technology will initially be used to retrofit to the Bonanzas, but the company says the systems will be scalable to airline operations as well.
"The airline industry is committed to net-zero by 2050, but no practical emissions-free options currently exist," Criner said. "Our patent-pending fuel cell technology is six-times lighter than the current state of the art.
"This unlocks hydrogen-electric aircraft that can fly 10 times further than battery electric alternatives, and are 50% cheaper to operate than fossil fuel-powered aeroplanes."
Stralis says they have made significant strides in research and development, partnered with key industry partners, and expanded to accelerate the deployment of hydrogen-electric propulsion.
According to Stralis, the company has secured letters of intent worth $250 million from 10 airline customers, and has received three major government grants to continue development.
Hydrogen-electric and battery-electric propulsion systems were identified in the 2024 aviation white paper as the technology of the future for GA, given that sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is likely to be restricted to airline use as a substitute for Jet-A1.