While various hydrogen propulsion options are under development for next-generation airliners, French start-up Beyond Aero for now appears to be the only company actively working to bring a hydrogen-powered business jet to market. The Toulouse-based company recently announced the completion of a $20 million Series A funding round taking its total funding to date to $44 million as it advances plans for a six- to eight-seat aircraft that could enter service in 2030.

So far, Beyond Aero faces no declared competition from any of the major business aviation manufacturers, none of which have yet confirmed plans to incorporate hydrogen propulsion into future aircraft.

However, according to co-founder and COO Hugo Tarlé, the company’s main motivation for focusing on this sector is that, with an expected maximum takeoff weight below 8.6 tonnes (about 19,000 pounds), its aircraft can be certified under EASA’s CS-23 rules, as opposed to the more complex CS-25 requirements for larger commercial aircraft. “A business aircraft means less time and investment to get there,” he told AIN.

For an aircraft that currently goes by the simple name One, Beyond Aero expects to be able to repurpose already mature propulsion technology being used for trucks, buses, and trains. “Our job is to take existing subsystems and adapt them to meet the certification requirements, filling any gaps to integrate the subsystems with the aircraft,” Tarlé explained.

Beyond Aero expects to deliver an aircraft with a four-passenger range of 800 nm, which it says matches the needs of 80% of business aviation flights. Tarlé said many of the start-up investors who have backed the company’s efforts travel in business aircraft, making it easier for them to identify with the company’s core addressable market.

The Series A funding round completed in October was co-led by Giant Ventures and the French sovereign wealth fund Bpifrance. Other backers included Initialized Capital and Nate Blecharczyk and Arash Ferdowsi, who founded Airbnb and Dropbox, respectively. Several unnamed high-profile professional athletes have also invested, according to the company.

Earlier this year, Beyond Aero appointed Luiz Oliveira as its chief engineer. In the span of a 44-year career with Brazilian aerospace group Embraer, he was involved in that company’s Energia project, which includes plans for hydrogen-powered aircraft, as well as the KC-390 military aircraft and the E-Jets family of airliners.

The 50-strong engineering team’s most immediate objective is to prepare to start ground testing for a 600-kilowatt subscale propulsion system that can be scaled up to a megawatt-class powertrain. Beyond Aero is in the process of investing around $12 million in a laboratory and test center in Toulouse, where Airbus is working on its ZeroE hydrogen airliner program, and it is also developing the design office it needs to secure design organization approval from EASA.

After unveiling its ambitious plans at the Paris Air Show in June 2023, Beyond Aero had a subscale version of its hydrogen-electric powertrain flying in February 2024. It converted a G1 SPYL-XL ultralight aircraft with an 85-kilowatt propulsion system running on a mix of gaseous hydrogen and batteries. The aircraft, which the company named Blériot in honor of the French aviation pioneer, completed 10 sorties from the Gap-Tallard airfield in southern France to validate the powertrain architecture.

Billionaires and Charter Operators Commit

According to Beyond Aero, it already holds letters of intent for 108 of the planned hydrogen business jet. The unnamed prospective customers include a mix of private charter operators, large corporations, and billionaires.

These commitments are valued at $914 million, and the company said the projected unit price will be between $9 million and $10 million. That is roughly comparable to the current price for a new Textron Cessna Citation CJ4+ jet.

Tarlé acknowledged that the business aviation community is facing mounting social and political pressure to decarbonize. “To fly without emissions in flight is a challenge for everyone, and one of the first steps for a legacy aircraft manufacturer is to use sustainable aviation fuel as it is the quickest option,” he said. “But it takes a huge amount of electricity to generate synthetic fuels.”

Beyond Aero opted for a hydrogen-hybrid powertrain because the fuel cells used to produce electric power do not generate nitrogen oxide emissions, which do occur when hydrogen is directly combusted by an engine. “It was a big technology choice and we have decided to use gaseous hydrogen because this is a realistic operational possibility for 2030, which is not the case for liquid hydrogen,” Tarlé explained.

In his view, existing business aircraft manufacturers have to focus on generating more revenues from existing programs. In this respect, he argued that a start-up like Beyond Aero is—for now—better placed to push the boundaries of new technology.

“But private aviation needs to switch to hydrogen,” he stated. “Because if you take the carbon dioxide emissions per passenger [on a business jet flight], you have a factor of 10 between the airlines and business aviation, so there is now an emergency need to decarbonize.”

No H2 Commitments Yet from Legacy OEMs

In December 2022, following consultation with an advisory group of operators, Embraer said it would tighten the focus of its Energia future aircraft program to explore the possible use of hybrid-electric and hydrogen-electric powertrains. At the time, the Brazilian airframer said its primary focus would be on 19- and 30-seat regional airliners with a view to hybrid-electric options reaching “technology readiness” in the early 2030s, followed by a hydrogen fuel cell-powered application in 2035.

“Embraer sees the use of hydrogen as part of the multiple alternatives that are being explored to achieve the industry’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050,” a company spokesman told AIN when asked for an update on the company's intentions.

It is now 15 years since Bombardier launched its EcoJet project aimed at reducing emissions from business jets by 50%. The main focus of the work is on a possible blended-wing-body design, for which it has been flight testing a subscale technology demonstrator since 2022. The Canadian manufacturer has consistently said it remains “propulsion agnostic” over plans for next-generation aircraft, with options including 100% SAF, hydrogen, and hybrid-electric powertrains all viewed as possible pathways.

Gulfstream Aerospace is keeping an open mind about future propulsion plans as it evaluates a range of technology options. “Our research and development teams continue to monitor new technologies in propulsion and electrification as they in turn continue to evolve. There are some hurdles and uncertainties to resolve before this becomes a reality for our industry,” Smitha Hariharan, the U.S. company’s vice president and chief sustainability officer, told AIN. “In the near term, as we further our own decarbonization efforts and enable our customers’ decarbonization pathways, using sustainable aviation fuel blends is one of the most tangible means of doing so. To that end, we use SAF blends in our operations where possible and continue testing the environmental impacts of higher SAF blends.”

Through its eAviation business, Textron Aviation has been actively involved in projects focused on all-electric, hybrid-electric, and hydrogen propulsion. The work, mainly conducted by its Europe-based subsidiary Pipistrel, is in the context of possible new regional airliners, but that in theory could be applied to business aircraft. The most active new aircraft program is the Nexus eVTOL vehicle being jointly developed with Textron’s Bell helicopter business unit.

Pilatus told AIN that as a matter of policy, it does not comment on future technological developments. “However, we can confirm that we are actively monitoring advancements in technology and are currently prioritizing the use of sustainable fuels, for which our aircraft are already certified,” a spokesman said. “In line with this commitment, we are participating in various initiatives, including a partnership with Swiss Synhelion to advance the development of synthetic fuels.”

Dassault Aviation did not respond to AIN’s questions about possible plans to use new propulsion systems for future versions of its Falcon business jet family. Like other manufacturers, boosting the use of SAF has been the main focus of the French company’s decarbonization initiatives.