Remote Scottish archipelago, testing ground for future of flight

When I interviewed ZeroAvia’s CFO, Katya Akulinicheva a few months ago, we talked about the next steps the hydrogen startup would take and I asked about the possibility they would be taking the next stages of flight testing up north to Scotland.

The response at the time was non-committal, because the deal was not closed yet, but, well, it has now been confirmed!

Kirkwall airport, in the Orkney Islands, off the Northern tip of Scotland, will become a testing ground, not just for ZeroAvia and its hydrogen power train, but to a whole range of innovative projects that aim to transform aviation forever.

The so called Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE) will be funded with £3.7M as part of the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Future Flight Challenge.

For 18 months, this small, off-the-beaten path airport, which is part of the network managed by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited’s (HIAL), will be host to a number of startups and research organisations that aim to lower aviation’s carbon footprint.

The aforementioned ZeroAvia will be joined by Ampaire, a Californian hybrid-electric startup that has recently been testing its technology in another, warmer, archipelago, Hawaii (as we have been covering here). Other participants include Loganair (a local Scottish airline known for the tartan-kilted tails of its aircraft!), Windracers (a firm that develops ways to deliver humanitarian aid with drones) and Flarebright (an UAS aerial photography firm)

The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), Denchi Group, Cloudnet, Air Service Training, the University of the Highlands and Islands, the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HITRANS) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and the Orkney Islands Council are also involved to some degree or another in this enterprise.

The highlands and islands of Scotland are a suitable environment to start testing real applications of alternative propulsion systems. Electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft still suffer from short range and other limitations, but some of the distances flown in the region are really, really short. In fact, so short that the Orkneys hold the record to the shortest regular commercial flight anywhere in the world. It is operated by Loganair, actually, between Westray and Papa Westray, distant two miles from each other! (as I explained in this piece I wrote for CNN about the shortest commercial flights in the world)

The Orkneys have a place of honour in British naval history, with the anchorage at Scapa Flow was one of the most important Royal Navy bases during the two world wars, perhaps this wind-swept archipelago at the edge of the British Isles will claim a similar spot too in the aeronautical history!