Hydrogen Aviation Advances with H2GEAR Project | Fuel Cells Works

Hydrogen Aviation Advances with H2GEAR Project highlights Intelligent Energy’s completion of the UK’s flagship H2GEAR programme, a five-year effort to move hydrogen-electric propulsion toward commercial aviation at scale. Intelligent Energy says the £54 million H2GEAR project—led by GKN Aerospace and supported by the Aerospace Technology Institute, the Department for Business and Trade, and Innovate UK—developed scalable hydrogen-electric technologies, improving power density, reducing drag, and enhancing dynamic response. The work now feeds directly into the £17 million, ATI-backed HEIGHTS programme launched in 2025 to develop the IE-FLIGHT 300 modular hydrogen fuel cell platform for eVTOL aircraft and next-generation sub-regional planes. H2GEAR also enabled a 1.3MW fuel cell test facility in Northamptonshire using green hydrogen from onsite renewables. The broader aim includes supporting up to 60,000 UK jobs and contributing £37 billion to the economy by 2050.