Heart Aerospace and the ES-thirty hybrid-electric regional airliner being built in Sweden
Heart Aerospace's ES-30 hybrid-electric airliner could cut regional airline fuel costs by up to 70% with entry into service targeted around 2028-2029.
Heart Aerospace, a Swedish company based in Gothenburg, is building the ES-30, a 30-seat hybrid-electric regional airliner designed to replace conventional turboprops on routes up to 250 nautical miles. By combining battery packs with rear-mounted turbogenerators in a series hybrid architecture, the ES-30 targets 50-70% fuel savings on typical short-haul routes — a figure that could reshape the economics of regional air travel.
Why a Hybrid Instead of a Fully Electric Airliner?
Heart Aerospace originally designed a fully electric 19-seat aircraft called the ES-19. The pivot to hybrid-electric came from an honest assessment of battery limitations.
Current lithium-ion battery packs deliver roughly 200-250 watt-hours per kilogram at the pack level. Jet fuel delivers approximately 12,000 watt-hours per kilogram — a roughly 50-to-1 energy density gap. Electric motor efficiency closes some of that gap, but not enough for a 30-seat airplane flying 200 nautical miles with reserves.
The hybrid solution is deliberately future-proof. As battery energy density improves over the coming decade, Heart can increase the battery fraction and reduce fuel burn proportionally without redesigning the airframe or motors. A pure combustion airframe offers no equivalent upgrade path.
How the ES-30’s Propulsion System Works
The ES-30 uses a series hybrid architecture, which is fundamentally different from the parallel hybrids found in automotive applications.
Two electric motors on the wings drive large-diameter propellers, each producing approximately 800 kilowatts (roughly 1,070 horsepower). These motors are optimized for cruise efficiency in the 200-250 knot speed range. Two turbogenerators mounted on the rear fuselage generate electricity that feeds into the same power bus as the belly-mounted battery packs. Combustion never touches the prop shaft.
This architecture creates three operational profiles:
- Under 100 nautical miles: Pure battery power, zero direct emissions
- Up to 215 nautical miles: Turbogenerators supplement battery power
- Up to 250 nautical miles: Extended range with reserves
The series hybrid design simplifies the mechanical drivetrain significantly — no gearbox combining two power sources, no clutch engagement between combustion and electric. Failure modes are cleaner, redundancy is more straightforward, and the certification path is less complex.
Who Is Behind the ES-30?
Founded in 2018 by Anders Forslund, Heart Aerospace has assembled a serious roster of investors and airline partners:
- United Airlines — pre-order placed
- SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) — order placed
- Air Canada — expressed interest
- Mesa Air Group — signed on
- Saab — both investor and aerostructures partner, building the fuselage
Saab’s involvement as a manufacturing partner is particularly significant. It signals that the ES-30 has moved well beyond the conceptual stage.
What Will It Be Like to Fly the ES-30?
The cockpit features a modern glass flight deck with fly-by-wire flight controls, designed for a two-crew configuration. The most novel element is the power management interface.
Pilots in the ES-30 will manage battery state of charge, turbogenerator output, motor power distribution, and thermal limits simultaneously. Reducing thrust might mean the system prioritizes battery charging from the turbogenerators, or it might mean the turbogenerators spool down while batteries handle the load. The logic depends on flight phase, state of charge, and range remaining.
Heart plans to automate most energy management so pilots can focus on flying. However, the mental model for hybrid-electric propulsion is fundamentally different from conventional turboprop operations. Pilots will need to develop intuition for energy state, not just power state — a shift that will require new training paradigms.
The Engineering Challenges That Remain
Thermal management is arguably the most complex subsystem on the aircraft. Batteries, motors, power electronics, and turbogenerators all generate significant heat inside a pressurized fuselage. Heart has been relatively quiet about specifics, suggesting active iteration.
Battery weight is substantial. Reasonable estimates based on published performance numbers suggest the ES-30 carries somewhere north of 3,000 kilograms (6,600 pounds) of battery mass alone, eating directly into payload and range capacity.
Charging infrastructure at regional airports does not exist at the megawatt scale required for rapid turnarounds. This ground infrastructure must be built in parallel with the aircraft’s certification — a coordination challenge that extends well beyond Heart’s own engineering program.
None of these are physics problems with hard limits. They are engineering problems with solutions that improve over time.
When Will the ES-30 Enter Service?
Heart is targeting EASA certification under the CS-23 commuter category framework, with entry into service around 2028-2029. The original target of 2026 has already slipped, consistent with virtually every electric and hybrid aviation program (Eviation Alice, Joby, and the now-restructured Lilium have all experienced delays).
The conventional airframe configuration — fixed wing, tail-mounted horizontal stabilizer, tricycle gear, pressurized cabin — works in Heart’s favor. EASA knows how to certify this shape. The novelty is limited to the propulsion system, making the regulatory path significantly simpler than for tilt-rotor eVTOL designs where regulators are still writing the rules.
A realistic assessment suggests 2030 is a reasonable possibility if further delays occur.
Why This Matters for Regional Aviation Economics
Regional airlines operate on razor-thin margins, with fuel typically representing 30-40% of operating costs on short-haul turboprop routes. A 50-70% reduction in fuel costs on a typical 200 nautical mile stage length translates to enormous direct operating cost savings that compound with every flight.
Even if the ES-30’s purchase price exceeds that of a comparable turboprop, the daily fuel savings create a compelling total cost of ownership argument — exactly the kind of math airlines are built to evaluate.
The Competitive Landscape
Heart is not alone in pursuing hybrid-electric regional aircraft. Faradair in the United Kingdom is developing the BEHA, a hybrid-electric utility aircraft. Established turboprop manufacturers ATR and De Havilland Canada are watching the segment closely, with the open question being whether Heart’s clean-sheet design arrives before incumbents can retrofit hybrid systems onto existing airframes.
A clean-sheet design built around hybrid-electric propulsion from day one allows optimized aerodynamics, weight distribution, and systems integration. Retrofitting new propulsion onto airframes designed for turbine engines means compromise at every stage.
Key Takeaways
- The ES-30 is a 30-seat series hybrid-electric airliner targeting existing regional routes of 100-250 nautical miles, not a speculative urban air mobility concept
- Battery-only operation is possible under 100 nautical miles, with turbogenerators extending range to 215-250 nautical miles on longer routes
- Major airline backing from United, SAS, Air Canada, and Mesa, plus Saab as a manufacturing partner, gives the program industrial credibility
- Entry into service is targeted for 2028-2029 under EASA CS-23 certification, though delays to 2030 would not be surprising
- The hybrid architecture is deliberately future-proof — as batteries improve, the electric-only range grows without airframe redesign, potentially reaching fully electric operation over time
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