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FLIGHT TEST: Heart Aerospace’s X1 prototype aircraft stands on the runway after a test flight at Plattsburgh outside New York.

Historic test flight for Sweden's Heart Aerospace

Sweden's Heart Aerospace has test-flown the world's largest all-electric passenger aircraft. The company expects to have its 30-seat hybrid aircraft in service by 2031.

Leif Holmkvist
Published

Last week, Heart's X1 test aircraft flew at Plattsburgh, outside New York. The electrical system, which delivers more than one megawatt of power, took the 12-tonne aircraft on a half-hour test flight.

- With this flight, we are demonstrating commercial-scale electric aviation, Heart's CEO and founder Anders Forslund told AIN.

The X1 is a full-scale demonstrator and the predecessor to the hybrid-electric ES-30 model, which is being built at the factory in California with its first flight planned in two years' time. With the hybrid model, short regional flights can be operated entirely on electricity, while longer flights can use a combination of electricity and SAF.

Heart Aerospace was founded in Gothenburg in 2019 and moved to the United States two years ago. The company has raised around SEK 2 billion in venture capital. Its investors include Bill Gates's climate company, United Airlines, Air Canada, where Anko van der Werff will soon take over as CEO, as well as Sweden's EQT Ventures, Saab and Norrsken.



electric aviation aviation test flight flights es-30 heart aerospace regional aviation
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