ZeroAvia has announced that it has cemented its agreement with MONTE Aircraft Leasing (MONTE), converting its existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for up to 100 engines to a definitive Purchase Agreement.
For ZeroAvia, this deal represents an important commercial milestone with the first ZA600 build slots being secured by MONTE. As ZeroAvia begins to plan for its production facilities, a good proportion of initial manufacturing capacity is now under commitment.
MONTE is now well-positioned to seize significant market share in zero-emissions regional turboprop aircraft leasing. MONTE and ZeroAvia aim to retrofit 9 – 19 seat aircraft with ZA600 power trains for airline operators starting in 2025, while also providing financing, infrastructure, maintenance and hydrogen availability services to support these operations.
ZeroAvia is working to certify ZA600, a 600 kW power train designed to support 9 – 19 seat aircraft, with the Cessna Grand Caravan planned as the launch airframe. With the first phase of prototype flight testing almost complete, the company is on track to meet its 2025 certification timeline.
James Peck, Chief Customer Officer, ZeroAvia, said: “As well as the huge technical and design milestones we are clearing, in tandem we are making enormous commercial progress, which means that operators will be able to fly lower cost, truly clean aircraft, sooner. Given its pure play focus on decarbonisation, MONTE is a great partner for us and we believe they will be at the forefront of enabling these early green operations in a growing market.”
Timothy Eyre, Chief Operating Officer, MONTE, said: “We are delighted to have formalised our partnership with ZeroAvia, who have made incredible progress on the ZA600 power train since we signed our initial MoU. Through this partnership, we have strengthened MONTE’s position in the zero-emission, regional turboprop market and enhanced our ability to offer operators solutions to decarbonise their fleets. We look forward to continuing our work with the ZeroAvia team as we continue on our journey to become one of the world’s first zero-emission aircraft lessors.”