19 pioneering Clean Aviation projects to mobilise €664 million in total research effort

The Governing Board of the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking has approved €290 million in EU funding for 19 new Clean Aviation projects, amounting to €664 million in total research effort (*).

These pioneering projects mark a decisive step into Clean Aviation’s demonstration phase, moving technologies developed in earlier research towards full-scale ground testing and preparing the most promising ones for flight demonstration. The projects cover a wide range of areas, including hybrid-electric and hydrogen propulsion architectures and systems, airframe optimisation, noise reduction and anti-icing technologies.

Building on the results of previous projects co-funded by Clean Aviation, the technologies will be tested under representative, real-world conditions to prove their reliability before they can be used in new aircraft of the future. Full-scale ground demonstrations and flight tests are planned for 2029–2030.

The selection of the projects follows Clean Aviation’s fourth call for proposals, in which the participation of small & medium-sized enterprises, research and technology organisations, and universities almost doubled compared to previous calls, accounting for 42% of the funding allocated. 74 new entities out of a total of 185 are involved in the projects: 40% of participants.  

Krzysztof Kuik, Co-chair of the Governing Board, Director Clean Planet at the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission, comments: “Collaboration is the runway from which innovative aircraft takes off. With strong tailwind from SMEs, Start-Ups, RTOs and universities, backed by industrial excellence, Europe is heading towards a future of more decarbonised, smarter, more resilient and globally competitive aviation."

Rémi Maillard, Co-chair of the Governing Board, Executive Vice-President Engineering of the Commercial Aircraft business and Head of Technology, Airbus,  says: “When public ambition meets private innovation, fresh ideas grow into real-world impact. Clean Aviation’s Call 4 projects take our most promising technologies from research into ground and flight demonstration as a decisive step towards the development of our next generation aircraft."

The projects will contribute to the aim of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions from Short-Medium Range and Regional aircraft by at least 30% compared to 2020 state-of-the-art technologies, and lay the foundations toward decarbonised aircraft for Entry-Into-Service (EIS) by 2035.

SEE SELECTED PROJECTS