Test flight planned for hydrogen-fueled passenger plane in Moses Lake
Universal Hydrogen, a Los Angeles startup working to make hydrogen fuel viable for the aviation industry, announced last week it raised $62 million. The company said that with the funding it will move up plans for a demonstration flight in Moses Lake to 2022.
In August, Universal Hydrogen established a flight test center in Moses Lake in partnership with Everett electric jet propulsion company MagniX and Seattle aircraft conversion company AeroTec. They plan to conduct flight testing and certification of a Dash 8 regional turboprop plane.
“While regional aviation represents a sizable market opportunity and an important early proof point in the fight against climate change, it is a small fraction of total aviation emissions,” Paul Eremenko, co-founder and CEO of Universal Hydrogen said in a news release. “If we want to decarbonize the industry on the timeframe of the Paris Agreement, the world’s narrowbody airliner fleet has to become hydrogen-powered starting in the 2030s.”
The funding gives Universal Hydrogen $85 million in runway, following a Series A round in April. New and returning investors contributed to the latest round, including Toyota Ventures, Mitsubishi HC Capital, GE Aviation and Tencent, among others. The company has said it has received letters of intent from potential future customers such as Icelandair, Air Nostrum, Ravn Alaska and ASL Aviation Holdings.
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2021/10/17/universal-hydrogen-raises-62-million.html
