Zero Emission Flight Demonstrator Round 1

To lead a collaborative project your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

No one partner can account for more than 70% of the total eligible costs.

A business can work on multiple applications but you must demonstrate how you will deliver the projects.

If a non-business organisation is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications.

For feasibility studies, your project must:

• have total costs of up to £250,000
• last between 12 and 24 months
• start by 1 August 2026
• end by 31 July 2028

For industrial research projects, your project must:

• have total costs of up to £5 million
• have at least 40% of your project costs in financial year 2026 to 2027 and at least 50% of your costs in financial year 2027 to 2028
• last between 12 and 24 months
• start by 1 August 2026
• end by 31 July 2028

Note, under the RD&I Streamlined Route rules, no more than £3 million per enterprise can be awarded in the form of a grant.

The aim of this competition is to demonstrate zero emission commercial capable flight in the UK.

Your project must progress the development of one or more of:

• flight operations for zero emission aircraft
• ground handling and infrastructure technologies needed to handle zero emission aircraft
• a regulatory environment for zero emission commercial flights
• the evidence base on the feasibility of zero emission aircraft for commercial aviation

All successful industrial research and feasibility study projects are expected to participate in the UK CAA’s Hydrogen Challenge regulatory sandbox initiative.

Through this competition the Department for Transport is looking to support the development of zero emission flight, specifically aircraft operations. These will, in future, be able to offer commercial passenger or goods services on a broadly like for like basis to current air services.

The Department for Transport and Innovate UK will be checking the scope of projects before they are sent for assessment.

For feasibility studies, your project must focus on one or more of the following:

• undertake detailed feasibility studies into the operation of commercial zero emission flights from UK airports
• develop detailed plans, business and investment cases to enable follow on investment decisions
• provide the business case to clearly identify and illustrate the benefits and risks of UK businesses committing to the future operation of zero emission aircraft
• gather and spread meaningful data to accelerate certification processes and inform investment decisions by others in the aviation sector

Successful feasibility study projects are expected to publish their findings to provide coordination benefits to the wider UK aviation sector.

For industrial research, your project must focus on one or more of the following:

• operate the demonstration of zero emission aircraft on an A-B route within the UK by July 2028
• demonstrate refuelling, take off and landing using either low carbon hydrogen or electricity at a minimum of two UK airports undertaking multiple A-B flights
• demonstrate the use of low carbon hydrogen or electricity in airside ground support equipment where this acts as an enabler of handling zero emission aircraft
• operate a zero emission aircraft capable of replicating an existing commercial passenger or freight flight using a fixed wing aircraft
• demonstrate development of standards for the airport handling of zero emission flight
• secure all necessary regulatory permissions to operate demonstration flights on A-B routes within the UK
• report on the benefits for passengers, airports and airlines of new zero emission aviation technology

Projects that include flight demonstrations will be prioritised, and a flight demonstrator project may be funded ahead of an infrastructure only project even if it scores lower.

We are not funding projects that:

• are on-aircraft technologies, such as propulsion technologies
• are future of flight technologies, for example eVTOLs and uncrewed aircraft or drones
• are commercial spaceflight including high altitude platforms
• are hydrogen production, transport and storage outside of aviation environments
• are cross sector hydrogen infrastructure projects without a clear aviation focus
• offer financial support for commercial operations

Innovate UK will hold an online briefing at 2pm on Monday 23 February: click here for the joining link (Zoom required).

If you would like help to find a collaboration partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Transport team.