GE Aerospace announced Monday it had completed the first hybrid-electric flight above 30,000 feet, reaching altitudes comparable to commercial passenger aircraft. The milestone was disclosed at the Farnborough International Airshow in England.
The test campaign, conducted with NASA, BETA Technologies, and Boeing, included a transatlantic ferry flight operated in hybrid-electric mode
Bloomberg / Getty Images
GE Aerospace announced Monday it had completed the first hybrid-electric flight above 30,000 feet, reaching altitudes comparable to commercial passenger aircraft. The milestone was disclosed at the Farnborough International Airshow in England.
The flight was conducted using a modified Saab 340B aircraft. The right side of the plane was fitted with a hybrid electric system housed in an inverted nacelle designed for extra ventilation, the company said. Components include GE Aerospace-developed motor/generators, power converters and inverters, controllers, gearboxes, propellers, heat exchangers, and a CT7 engine. BAE Systems supplied the batteries, and Boeing $BA subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences built the nacelle.
The record came out of GE Aerospace's work under NASA's Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration project. The team's single longest flight in hybrid-electric operation ran more than two hours, and BETA Technologies pilots flew the aircraft across the North Atlantic to the airshow, operating in hybrid-electric mode on each leg of the journey, the company said.
"The aviation industry's first high-altitude hybrid electric flight is one for the history books," GE Aerospace Chairman and CEO H. Lawrence Culp, Jr. said in a statement.
BETA Technologies founder and CEO Kyle Clark said in a statement that the system improved high-altitude performance and climb capability while generating data to inform future hybrid designs. Aurora Flight Sciences CTO Graham Drozeski said the team had achieved multiple advancements to integrate a high-voltage electrified propulsion system into an aircraft operating at commercial altitudes.
A hybrid electric engine system pairs an electric powertrain with a traditional gas turbine to manage power across different phases of flight. During tests, the electric powertrain powered the propeller and generated power back to the battery, the company said. Engineering teams addressed heat management, lower atmospheric pressure, and power density challenges using flight-grade components.
GE Aerospace Commercial Engines and Services President and CEO Mohamed Ali said in a statement that flying a hybrid electric engine system at altitudes not reached before demonstrates capabilities the company can bring to next-generation aircraft. According to Reuters, Ali would not be drawn on the specifics of how the high-voltage hybrid system might appear in a commercial product, calling it "a significant enabling technology."
The RISE engine concept, developed through CFM International — the GE Aerospace and Safran joint venture — counts hybridization among its four principal technology tracks, according to Reuters. GE Aerospace was first awarded the NASA EPFD contract in 2021. Public demonstration flights at Farnborough are planned as part of daily flying displays, the company said.
GE Aerospace reported second-quarter results last week, raising its full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance to a range of $7.65 to $7.85 after revenue and profit both rose more than 20% from a year earlier.
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