19 Pioneering Clean Aviation Projects to mobilise €664 Million in Total Research Effort to Advance Ground and Flight Demonstration
The Governing Board of the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking has approved €290 million EU funding for 19 new Clean Aviation projects, which amounts to €664 million in total research effort
These pioneering projects mark a decisive step into Clean Aviation’s demonstration phase: technologies developed in earlier research will move out of the lab and into full-scale ground test facilities, preparing for the flight demonstration of the most promising ones. Projects cover a wide range of areas, from hybrid-electric and hydrogen propulsion architectures and systems, and airframe optimisation, to noise reduction and anti-icing technologies.
Building on the results of previous projects co-funded by Clean Aviation, the technologies will be tested under representative, real-world conditions to prove their reliability before they can be used in new aircraft of the future.
The eight projects funded under the Fast Track Areas (FTAs) will get underway at the end of 2026, with the remainder following in early 2027. Full-scale ground demonstrations and flight tests are planned for 2029-2030.
The projects will contribute to the aim of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions from Short-Medium Range and Regional aircraft by at least 30% compared to 2020 state-of-the-art technologies, and lay the foundations toward decarbonised aircraft for Entry-Into-Service (EIS) by 2035.
The selection of the projects follows Clean Aviation’s fourth call for proposals, in which the participation of small & medium-sized enterprises, research and technology organisations, and universities almost doubled compared to previous calls, accounting for 42% of the funding allocated. 74 new entities out of a total of 185 are involved in the projects: 40% of participants. This upward trend was driven primarily by increased interest in FTAs and new eligibility conditions for certain project proposals. As a result, the ecosystem supported by Clean Aviation, both geographically and in terms of the types of entities receiving support, has grown: a boost for Europe’s future aviation supply chain capacities.
“Collaboration is the runway from which innovative aircraft takes off. With strong tailwind from SMEs, Start-Ups, RTOs and universities, backed by industrial excellence, Europe is heading towards a future where aviation is cleaner, smarter, more resilient and globally more competitive.“
Krzysztof Kuik
Co-chair of the Governing Board, Director Clean Planet at the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission
“When public ambition meets private innovation, fresh ideas grow into real-world impact. Clean Aviation’s Call 4 projects take our most promising technologies from research into ground and flight demonstration as a decisive step towards the development of our next generation aircraft.“
Rémi Maillard
Co-chair of the Governing Board, Executive Vice-President Engineering of the Commercial Aircraft business and Head of Technology, Airbus
“Call 4 projects are key to boosting Europe’s competitiveness and industrial leadership in a demanding global market where maintaining a technological edge will be fundamental to future success. They showcase the innovative power of European aviation and aeronautics, marking Clean Aviation’s move into its demonstration phase and bringing together the entire ecosystem behind a shared goal: the entry-into-service of new, highly efficient aircraft by 2035.“
Axel Krein
Executive Director of the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking
Overall, 19 projects will receive funding in the following areas:
- Ultra-efficient short-medium range aircraft technologies (€106 million total EU funding)
- Hydrogen-powered aircraft technologies (€101 million total EU funding)
- Ultra-efficient regional aircraft technologies (€40 million total EU funding)
- Fast Track Areas (FTAs) (€40 million total EU funding)
- Transversal projects dedicated to aircraft concept integration and impact assessment have been awarded €2.5 million EU funding, and coordination and support actions €0.5 million EU funding.
(*) €664 million equates to the total value of the public and private contributions in the Clean Aviation Call 4 projects, including relevant complementary R&I projects and activities identified as in-kind contributions. The projects’ official start is subject to successful completion of grant preparation targeted for October (Fast Track Areas) and mid-December (all other areas).
About the Call for Proposals
The Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking’s fourth call for proposals was launched in February 2026 and closed in May. The call was open to competition in accordance with the general provisions of the European Union’s research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe, of which it is a part.
About the Fast Track Areas
Fast Track Areas (FTAs) are designed to de-risk alternative or complementary technical solutions offered by Universities, Research Centres and SMEs. They put the focus on proposals that can rapidly advance impactful technologies to the development phase. Following Call 4, eight projects are being funded as FTAs, compared with four under the previous Call 3.
About Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking
The Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking is the European Union’s leading research and innovation programme for transforming aviation towards a sustainable and climate-neutral future. It is a successful European public-private partnership between the European Commission through Horizon Europe, the EU research and innovation programme, and the European aeronautics industry. It has a budget of €4.1 billion divided into €1.7 billion in EU funding and no less than €2.4 billion in private funding. The programme’s disruptive clean aviation technologies will help reduce the emission footprint of short-medium range and regional aircraft by no less than 30% compared to 2020 state-of-the-art aircraft. Clean Aviation builds on the knowledge and expertise of the Clean Sky programmes (2008-2024).
