Clean Aviation adds 19 projects in fourth call as year-end workload grows

Clean Aviation named the 19 industry-led projects picked under its fourth call for proposals on 17 September, bringing the EU research and innovation body's total to 53. Those projects draw about €1.47 billion in EU grants, or roughly €3.6 billion in research and innovation spending when private-sector investment is counted.

The new selections share €290 million, about $326 million, and are working through grant preparation, the final step of approval. A fifth and final call is due to launch in February. Projects from the first call, which opened in January 2023, are starting to conclude and need management attention.

Lobbying over what comes after Clean Aviation's scheduled end in December 2031 is under way.

The body has two linked aims: backing next-generation technologies that would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30% against a 2020 state-of-the-art baseline, and bringing those technologies to a maturity that lets them enter service by 2035, including at industrial scale.

The work feeds four aircraft concepts. A short and medium-range design, in effect a new narrowbody. An ultra-efficient regional aircraft, described as a next-generation turboprop. And two hydrogen-powered aircraft, one using fuel cells and another burning hydrogen directly.