HERA will identify and assess the concept of a regional aircraft and its key architectures, develop the required technologies at aircraft level and create the conditions needed to achieve technology-based greenhouse gas emissions of -50% as defined in the SRIA for a hybrid-electric regional aircraft.
The HERA aircraft, which has around 50 to 100 seats, will be used for regional and short-haul flights on typical routes of less than 500 km (inter-city regional connections) by mid-2030. The aircraft will be ready for future intermodal and multimodal mobility concepts aiming for sustainability.
The HERA aircraft will have a hybrid-electric propulsion system based on batteries or fuel cells as a power supply, supported by SAF or hydrogen combustion as a heat source to achieve up to 90% lower emissions while fully complying with ICAO noise regulations. The HERA aircraft will be operational by mid-2030 and will follow the new certification rules, be able to interact with the new ground infrastructure and support new energy sources. This means that the HERA aircraft will be ready for actual flight operations, and will offer operators and passengers sustainable, safe and fast connectivity with low greenhouse gas emissions. HERA will work quantitatively with the innovative aircraft architectures and configurations required to integrate several breakthrough technologies, including high-voltage power distribution in the MW range, thermal management, new wings and fuselages, and new hybrid electric propulsion systems and associated new energy storage systems with low greenhouse gas emissions. To meet this unprecedented integration challenge, HERA will develop processes, tools and simulation models that support the new interactions, the division of labor in the value chain and the interfaces between systems and components. HERA will also develop the future demonstration strategy for a hybrid-electric regional aircraft in the second phase of the Clean Aviation initiative, to support the high-TRL demonstration required for early impact of HERA solutions.
Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT
