The archive · Space, Robots, Defence · Strategic decision · 2024–2026
Heart Aerospace's X1 becomes the largest electric aircraft ever flown
Heart Aerospace's X1, the largest battery-electric aircraft ever flown, completed its 27-minute maiden flight in August 2026 on about $5 of electricity.
Heart Aerospace
What the business is
Heart Aerospace is a Swedish-founded, Los Angeles-based electric aircraft manufacturer developing the ES-30, a 30-seat hybrid-electric regional airliner for FAA Part 25 certification, and using its full-scale demonstrator X1 to validate the technology.
Starting capital：Heart Aerospace had raised $145M through its February 2024 round — $107M in that Series B — from investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, United Airlines, Air Canada, EQT Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Norrsken VC and Y Combinator (Kaptena, 2024-02-06).
How it started
Heart Aerospace, founded in Gothenburg by Anders Forslund and now based in Los Angeles, set out to prove electric propulsion works at airliner scale, not just in small aircraft. Its answer was X1, a full-scale battery-electric demonstrator representative of the planned 30-seat hybrid-electric ES-30, built to gather the flight data and regulatory experience a Part 25 airliner program needs.
What happened
In July 2026 the FAA issued X1 a Special Airworthiness Certificate in the Experimental Category after structural, propulsion, systems and taxi tests. On August 12, 2026, the piloted X1 flew for 27 minutes from Plattsburgh International Airport in New York, reaching 1,100 feet with more than one megawatt of electric power, using about $5 of electricity; the profile covered taxi, takeoff, climb, maneuvering and landing.
How it ended up
Heart Aerospace called the flight the first demonstration of electric flight at commercial airliner scale. Customer commitments stand at $9.4B from carriers including United Airlines, Air Canada and JSX; ES-30 entry into service is targeted for 2031, with the first pre-production aircraft being built at Heart's Los Angeles pilot plant and flight testing planned for 2028.
Background
Heart Aerospace, founded in Gothenburg and now based in Los Angeles, is building the ES-30, a 30-seat hybrid-electric regional airliner for FAA Part 25 certification, with United Airlines, Air Canada and JSX among the carriers holding commitments worth $9.4B. To prove the program was real, it built X1 — a full-scale battery-electric demonstrator spanning 106 feet and weighing more than 25,000 pounds.
On August 12, 2026, X1 completed its maiden flight at Plattsburgh International Airport in New York: 27 minutes airborne, 1,100 feet above ground, more than one megawatt from its all-electric propulsion system, on roughly $5 of electricity. The flight ran under an FAA Special Airworthiness Certificate in the Experimental Category issued in July after ground testing, with a profile covering taxi, takeoff, climb, maneuvering and landing.
Heart frames X1 as the first demonstration of electric flight at commercial airliner scale and the validation base for the ES-30, which it expects to cut operating costs by more than 40% versus legacy regional aircraft. The first pre-production ES-30 is under construction at Heart's Los Angeles pilot plant, with entry into service targeted for 2031.
What has to be true
- Regional flying runs short, fuel-heavy routes where electric propulsion attacks costs directly — an argument Heart had to prove at airliner scale, not on slides.
- The FAA certificate and X1's flight data give the ES-30's Part 25 certification effort a real technical and regulatory baseline before the production program begins (AVweb).
- Carriers committed early: United Airlines and Air Canada, which also invested, plus JSX, make up $9.4B in customer commitments tied to hardware milestones like X1 (Heart Aerospace press release).
- The economics are the wedge: about $5 of electricity powered a 27-minute airliner-scale flight when jet fuel cost $3.50 per gallon.
What can be applied
A full-scale flying demonstrator is the pitch a paper design cannot make: X1's flight turned Heart's clean-sheet program into $9.4B of carrier commitments and a credible Part 25 path.
Aftermath
Since X1's first flight on August 12, 2026, Heart Aerospace has been collecting flight-characteristics and electric-propulsion data from the demonstrator while building the first pre-production ES-30 at its Los Angeles pilot plant. The company targets ES-30 flight testing in 2028 and entry into service in 2031, with $9.4B in customer commitments from United Airlines, Air Canada and JSX. The remaining question is whether hybrid-electric economics hold up in certification and airline operation, and whether Heart can convert commitments into firm orders before capital runs out.
Sources
- Heart Aerospace Completes First Flight of World's Largest Electric Aircraft
- Heart X1 Completes First Flight
- First flight of 'world's largest' electric aeroplane
- Elflygtillverkaren Heart Aerospace attraherar namnkunniga investerare
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