The Future of Aviation: Hydrogen-Powered Flight at FLYING HY 2025

For over a century, flight has been powered by combustion. This innovation once connected the world, but it now fuels the planet’s carbon crisis. Today, aviation accounts for roughly 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Its reliance on fossil fuels makes it one of the hardest sectors to decarbonize.

Register Now

But a new generation of innovators isn’t just talking about hydrogen—they’re flying it. At FLYING HY 2025, HYSKY Society’s annual hydrogen aviation event, Session 1: Hydrogen Aircraft & Prototypes will showcase the companies and leaders building real hydrogen aircraft, real propulsion systems, and real progress toward zero-emission flight.

The Case for Hydrogen Flight

Aviation’s clean-energy transition hinges on one critical breakthrough: an energy carrier powerful enough to match jet fuel, yet clean enough to eliminate carbon emissions. Battery-electric aircraft have shown their potential for short hops. However, the weight of batteries limits their range.

Hydrogen-electric fuel cells, on the other hand, offer the energy density required for commercial-scale flight—with only water vapor as a byproduct. Fuel cells convert hydrogen into electricity through an electrochemical reaction. This process drives electric motors with efficiency and control. Combined with innovations in hydrogen storage and airport refueling, this technology represents the most promising path to true zero-emission aviation. The challenge now is scaling it—and that’s exactly what the pioneers of Session 1 are doing.

Mark van Wyk – FlyH2 Aerospace

In South Africa, Mark van Wyk and his team at FlyH2 Aerospace are redefining what’s possible with hydrogen-powered unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). FlyH2 is developing a new class of endurance aircraft powered by lightweight fuel cells optimized for long-range missions in challenging environments. Their innovations in both aircraft design and fuel cell technology demonstrate that hydrogen aviation isn’t limited to global giants—it’s a worldwide movement.

Gad Shaanan – Unmanned Aerospace

A serial entrepreneur and product visionary, Gad Shaanan, Founder and CEO of Unmanned Aerospace, brings decades of experience in aerospace innovation to hydrogen flight. His company is developing gyrocopter-inspired hydrogen-electric systems for unmanned platforms. This enables efficient, long-endurance operations for both commercial and defense applications. Shaanan’s work shows that when experience meets clean energy, entirely new flight architectures emerge.

Serge Markoff – Sea Cheetah

At the intersection of sea and sky, Serge Markoff, Founder and CEO of Sea Cheetah, is building one of the most unconventional hydrogen vehicles on Earth—a wing-in-ground-effect (WIG) vessel that skims just above the water at jet-like speeds. Sea Cheetah’s prototype fleet uses modular hydrogen generation and fueling infrastructure, known as H₂Hub, to enable fully decentralized operations. With its first prototype nearing completion and a multi-hundred-million-dollar pre-order already secured, Sea Cheetah represents hydrogen innovation on a grand scale.

Bentzion Levinson – Heven Drones

Bentzion Levinson, Founder and CEO of Heven Drones, is proving hydrogen’s endurance advantage in the air. Based in Israel, Heven’s hydrogen-powered drone systems fly longer, carry heavier payloads, and operate cleaner than battery-electric competitors. From agriculture and construction to emergency response and defense, Heven Drones is turning hydrogen’s promise into performance—one flight at a time.

Irwin Kerboriou – Beyond Aero

While others focus on the skies, Irwin Kerboriou ensures that hydrogen aircraft have a home on the ground. As Lead H₂ Airport Operations Manager at Beyond Aero, Kerboriou designs the infrastructure that will make hydrogen flight scalable. She develops refueling systems, safety frameworks, and airport integration plans that prepare the world’s airports for the hydrogen era. Her work ensures that when hydrogen aircraft are ready for takeoff, the world’s runways will be ready too.

Why This Session Matters

“Hydrogen Aircraft & Prototypes” isn’t theory—it’s proof. These are the machines and minds turning research into flight, concept into certification, and prototypes into products. Each company represents a critical piece of the hydrogen aviation puzzle: propulsion, endurance, infrastructure, autonomy, and scalability. Together, they demonstrate that the future of flight isn’t decades away—it’s being assembled right now.

About Session 1: Hydrogen Aircraft & Prototypes

Session 1: Hydrogen Aircraft & Prototypes

🕘 9:40 AM – 10:55 AM CDT

📅 November 5, 2025

📍 Virtual on Zoom

🎟 Tickets: $30 Register at zeffy.com/ticketing/flying-hy--2025

Speakers:

• Mark van Wyk – FlyH2 Aerospace

• Gad Shaanan – Unmanned Aerospace

• Serge Markoff – Sea Cheetah

• Bentzion Levinson – Heven Drones

• Irwin Kerboriou – Beyond Aero

  
  

The Road Ahead for Hydrogen Aviation

As we look to the future, the promise of hydrogen aviation is not just about reducing emissions. It’s about transforming the way we think about flight. Imagine a world where aircraft soar through the skies, powered by clean energy, leaving nothing but water vapor in their wake. This vision is becoming a reality thanks to the innovators leading the charge.

The journey toward hydrogen-powered flight is filled with challenges. However, the passion and dedication of these pioneers are paving the way for a sustainable future. They are not just building aircraft; they are building a legacy for generations to come.

In conclusion, the hydrogen revolution in aviation is not a distant dream. It is unfolding right before our eyes. The innovators at FLYING HY 2025 are at the forefront of this movement, proving that the future of flight can be clean, efficient, and sustainable. Join us as we embark on this exciting journey toward a new era of aviation.

Let’s embrace the change and take flight into a cleaner, greener future!