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Stralis Aircraft, the Brisbane based company pioneering green hydrogen-electric aircraft, will display its Beechcraft Bonanza hydrogen-electric ground test bed, fondly known as "Clyde", at RAAA Convention 2024.

The Bonanza A36 fuselage has been retrofitted with a hydrogen-electric propulsion system which completed high-power engine testing in December and provides the foundation for Stralis Aircraft’s planned flight testing in southeast Queensland later this year in another Bonanza A36, known as “Bonnie”.

Stralis’s stated mission is to “decarbonise air travel, improve passenger experience and create a world class aircraft manufacturer in Australia”.  

The company sees green hydrogen as a fundamentally clean solution that is carbon-free, lightweight, and economical.

The company’s first product will be a retrofitted Beech 1900D, with the conventional turbine engine and kerosene fuel system replaced with Stralis’s novel Hydrogen Electric Propulsion System and liquid hydrogen storage tanks.

Retrofitting an existing airframe is cheaper and faster to market than a new design, offering an aircraft familiar to the regional aviation community, without radically changing operations. However, Stralis is also working on a clean sheet regional airliner design.

Based on practical experience with alternative power systems, Stralis is convinced that hydrogen electric propulsion is the most commercially viable, truly sustainable solution for regional and domestic aviation in Australia. The Beech 1900D-HE is anticipated to have a cost per available seat kilometre (CASK) on par with a conventional aircraft in 2026 and 25 per cent cheaper by 2035.

With deep aircraft design and certification expertise for conventional aircraft and novel electrical propulsion technology, the company intends to obtain a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for its product with CASA and the FAA.

Stralis is part of the Hydrogen Flight Alliance, that brings together ten leading organisations to help achieve the first commercial hydrogen-electric flight in Australia with launch customer Skytrans Airlines, between Brisbane and Gladstone in 2026.  

The benefits of hydrogen electric propulsion, include:

1. Zero emissions – no carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, sulphates, particulates, or soot (only emits water vapour).
2. Useful range – will deliver a range of 800km plus IFR reserves, suitable for commercial routes.
3. Low-cost fuel – compared with current and projected jet fuel and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) costs, it will be on par in the near term and cheaper in the future.
4. Local fuel production – green hydrogen can be produced locally, remotely with low volume and at scale in major hubs.
5. Reduced maintenance costs – Estimating a 65 per cent or greater reduction in engine maintenance costs versus turbines.