Sweden’s Heart Aerospace scales up to develop 30-seat hybrid-electric ES-30 | News
Sweden’s Heart Aerospace will now build a 30-seat hybrid-electric regional aircraft called the ES-30, dropping earlier plans for a 19-seater called the ES-19.
But it also means that the service entry slips to 2028 from a previous target of 2026.
Heart has also revealed two new shareholders, with Air Canada and Saab taking minority stakes in the business.
Heart’s founder and CEO Anders Forslund revealed the change of course at an event at its development center at Save airport near Gothenburg on September 15, saying the ES-30 “is an aircraft that industry can use”.
“We have designed a cost-effective aircraft that allows airlines to deliver good service on a wide range of routes,” he says.
Heart said in June it was changing the certification basis for the ES-19, moving from the European CS-23 to the CS-25 standard for larger aircraft.
Although the ES-30 retains the four-engine layout of its ES-19 predecessor, the design now features a wing-body strut and a large battery compartment under the fuselage.
Range with 30 passengers on board in all-electric mode is 108 nm (200 km), or 215 nm with reserve power from two turbo generators. In addition, range of up to 430nm is possible if only 25 passengers are transported.
Existing customers Mesa Airlines and United Airlines — which together have ordered 200 aircraft plus 100 options — have confirmed their interest in the ES-30, Heart said.
The company also has letters of intent for a further 96 ES-30s from airlines including Braathens Regional Airlines, Icelandair and SAS, plus lessor Rockton, which accounts for 40 units on its own.
New shareholders Air Canada and Saab have each invested $5 million in the business, and the airline has also placed a purchase order for 30 aircraft.
Heart will build the ES-30 on a new campus at Save airport, which it has called the Northern Runway. Consisting of design, production and flight test facilities, the company hopes this will establish the electric aircraft industry at the site.