Updates Feb 2025

Stralis️: Current Status ⚡

Welcome to the latest update from our team. In late 2024, Stralis Aircraft successfully performed a hydrogen-electric propeller spin on our Bonanza A36-HE ground-demonstrator aircraft, “Clyde,” at Brisbane Airport. This is our most significant milestone and an industry-first for the use of fuel cells and gaseous hydrogen at an international airport.

We are grateful to have been featured on national news channels and in several publications and to have received congratulations from the wider community. We want to thank our Hydrogen Flight Alliance members, notably Brisbane Airport Corporation and Aviation Australia, for their strong support of this mission. We have now set our sights on the first hydrogen test flight, which is scheduled this year.

We are incredibly proud of our team, which accomplished this mission alongside the United Nations World Sustainable Transport Day. The only emission was water vapour 💧

Recent updates

We were thrilled to kick off 2025 by announcing that Stralis has been awarded a grant from the Australian Government's Industry Growth Program. This funding will help accelerate the building and testing of our proprietary high-temperature PEM fuel cells, which are 6x lighter than competing low-temperature fuel cell systems.

Stralis has commenced a research collaboration with CQUniversity to develop a heat management system for our high-temperature PEM fuel cells. Funding was secured through the RUIC Program, an initiative of the Queensland Government and administered by CSIRO.

In January, our co-founders travelled to Japan to meet potential partners and investors. They engaged with major players in the aerospace and automotive sectors, as well as corporate venture capital arms of local airlines. Stralis has welcomed several Japanese visitors to our Brisbane lab, which has resulted in a contract to collaborate with a new partner.

In February, Stralis engineers visited the USA to review our high-temperature PEM fuel cell production and test program, successfully advancing us to Technology Readiness Level 4. The team also connected with key suppliers and potential customers.

Stralis has applied for an experimental certificate for Bonnie, our Bonanza A36-HE flight demonstrator, and we are aligning with CASA regarding the experimental test program. To support the process, we hosted senior CASA officials at our lab. We presented at CASA's symposium on the airworthiness of hydrogen and fuel cell systems as primary propulsion for civil aircraft. This is a first-of-its-kind event for CASA and a significant development for our industry.

IATA and ACI World, along with 32 organisations, including Stralis, have released the concept of operations for battery—and hydrogen-powered aircraft at airports. It details airport operations for refuelling, taxiing, catering, boarding, and emergency operations. Stralis aircraft products were also featured in the IATA Chart of the Week

If you’re looking to learn more about our mission, we’d love to meet you at Avalon Airshow this March. Stuart Johnstone will be speaking at Avalon to pitch for our project 'Genny Long-legs' after Stralis was shortlisted as one of 6 finalists in the Avalon 25 Blue Sky Thinking Innovation Awards.

As part of the Avalon program, Bob Criner will also present at RAAA Into the Future and be one of the four panellists for the 21st Australian International Aerospace Congress's Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Deployment in Australia session. We hope to see you there.

Congratulations to our Hydrogen Flight Alliance (HFA) partners in New Zealand. Fabrum is unveiling a hydrogen testing facility in partnership with Christchurch Airport to support the development of green hydrogen-powered technologies, primarily in aviation. Stralis intends to utilise the test site that will be established within the renewable energy precinct.

If you are interested in our solutions and want to find out more, please get in touch.