Heart Aerospace has completed the first flight of its X1 demonstrator, becoming what it says is the largest battery-electric aircraft to fly and marking a milestone toward the company’s regional electric airliner program.
The piloted flight took place at Heart’s flight-test base at Plattsburgh International Airport in upstate New York and lasted 27 minutes, during which X1 reached an altitude of 1,100ft (335m). Its all-electric propulsion system delivered more than one megawatt of power throughout a test profile that included taxi, takeoff, climb, maneuvering and landing.
Spanning 106ft (32m) and measuring 76ft (23m) nose to tail, X1 weighed more than 25,000lb (11,340kg) at takeoff. The flight was conducted under a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Special Airworthiness Certificate in the Experimental Category, with a test profile designed to demonstrate all-electric flight at a scale relevant to commercial airline operations.
“With the first flight of X1, Heart Aerospace has demonstrated electric flight at the scale of a commercial airliner,” said Anders Forslund, founder and CEO of Heart Aerospace.
Heart said X1 used approximately US$5 worth of electricity during the flight, at a time when the company put global jet fuel prices at an average of US$3.50 per gallon for the week ending August 7.
X1 is a full-scale demonstrator representing Heart’s ES-30 production aircraft, a conventional fixed-wing, 30-seat hybrid-electric regional airliner being developed for FAA Part 25 certification. The demonstrator, revealed in 2024, has since completed taxi trials and now first flight ahead of ES-30’s targeted 2031 entry into service.
According to Heart the ES-30 has attracted customer commitments worth US$9.4bn from carriers including United Airlines, Air Canada and JSX.
“The first flight of X1 is a major technical achievement for Heart Aerospace, a company United has been proud to support,” said Michael Leskinen, chief financial officer of United Airlines. “Electric commercial aircraft have real potential to deliver a better travel experience for passengers while strengthening our business, and we look forward to Heart’s continued development of the ES-30 and its potential future role in United’s network.”
“Through the X1 program, Heart has built the capability to design, build, test, operate, and continuously improve a clean-sheet electric commercial aircraft,” said Ben Stabler, chief technology officer at Heart Aerospace. “We are carrying that full-stack capability directly into the ES-30, our first production aircraft and the foundation of a broader technology platform for electric airliners.”
Heart expects the ES-30 to cut aircraft operating costs by more than 40% compared with legacy regional aircraft, driven by lower energy costs, reduced maintenance and simplified electric propulsion systems. The company is developing the first pre-production ES-30 at its pilot manufacturing plant in Los Angeles, California with flight testing scheduled to begin in 2028.
