The Heart Aerospace X1 first flight put a 25,000-pound electric aircraft over upstate New York on Wednesday. The demonstrator lifted off from Plattsburgh International Airport and flew for 27 minutes. It reached 1,100 feet on battery power alone. Heart says the X1 is now the largest battery-electric aircraft ever flown.
The company built the X1 as a full-scale stand-in for its ES-30 production plane. So the flight profile mattered more than the altitude. The mission covered taxi, takeoff, climb, maneuvering, and landing. It flew under an FAA Special Airworthiness Certificate in the Experimental Category. During the climb, the all-electric propulsion system delivered more than one megawatt of power.
The airframe is big by electric-aviation standards. It spans 106 feet wingtip to wingtip and measures 76 feet nose to tail. At takeoff, it topped 25,000 pounds. In fact, that puts it in the same footprint class as the regional turboprops Heart wants to undercut.
A $5 flight in an expensive fuel year
Heart says the X1 used about $5 worth of electricity for the entire mission. Meanwhile, jet fuel averages $3.50 a gallon. By the company’s count, that price is up 63 percent year over year. So the flight is also an economics argument. Electric propulsion can decouple regional airlines from oil-price swings, at least on paper.
“With the first flight of X1, Heart Aerospace has demonstrated electric flight at the scale of a commercial airliner.” That was Anders Forslund, Heart’s founder and CEO, after the flight. Ultimately, he ties the milestone to cheaper, more frequent service at smaller airports closer to home.
From X1 to the ES-30
The X1 never carries passengers. Instead, its job is to de-risk the ES-30, a 30-seat hybrid-electric regional airliner headed for FAA Part 25 certification. United Airlines, Air Canada, and JSX have all signed customer commitments. Heart is also building the first pre-production ES-30 at a pilot plant in Los Angeles. Flight testing for that aircraft starts in 2028, while service entry follows in 2031.
Heart promises the ES-30 will cut aircraft operating costs by more than 40 percent versus legacy regional planes. Lower energy costs and simpler maintenance drive most of that saving. Aviation is chasing the same math elsewhere. Wizz Air is wiring its fleet for Starlink Wi-Fi, while Rocket Lab’s $8 billion Iridium deal reshapes aerospace balance sheets.
The next test campaign will push the X1 through longer profiles and higher power settings. After that, the lessons move into the production aircraft. If the ES-30 keeps this cost curve, many regional routes could look very different by the 2030s.
