Synhelion and Pilatus launch strategic partnership to scale solar fuels
Synhelion and Pilatus Aircraft Ltd enter into a strategic cooperation with the aim of accelerating the scaling of solar fuels for aviation. The Swiss aircraft manufacturer wants to use Synhelion’s solar fuels for its own flight operations and also offer them to its customers in the medium term. Pilatus has therefore become a shareholder of Synhelion, underpinning its commitment to actively defossilize aviation.
Pilatus Aircraft Ltd, founded in 1939, is the biggest aircraft manufacturer in Switzerland. To date, Pilatus has developed, built, and delivered more than 4’400 airplanes worldwide. In the future, the company would like to use Synhelion’s solar fuel not only for its own aircraft fleet – Pilatus’ customers will also have the opportunity to actively defossilize their air travel with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
As part of the partnership, Pilatus also became a shareholder of Synhelion in April 2024. This underpins the aircraft manufacturer’s strong long-term commitment to the sustainable transformation of air travel.
Hansueli Loosli, Chairman of the Pilatus Board of Directors, emphasizes: “Pilatus has been committed to sustainability and energy efficiency for many years, for example in our production processes and new buildings. We are firmly convinced that sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) will be an integral part of aviation’s future and we would like to make a further essential contribution.”
Markus Bucher, CEO of Pilatus, adds: “We are convinced by the technology of solar fuels – it is the best way to defossilize air traffic as quickly as possible. We are delighted to be taking on a pioneering role together with Synhelion, making an important contribution to sustainability in aviation.”
Philipp Furler, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Synhelion, comments: “We are extremely proud to have Pilatus, a leading manufacturer of turboprop and jet aircraft, as a partner and shareholder. Over the next few years, we will work together with full commitment to scale our solar fuels worldwide.”
Synhelion and Pilatus will communicate the details of future fuel deliveries in the coming months. The declared common goal is to roll out sustainable solar fuels to Pilatus’ entire customer fleet within ten years.
Synhelion is currently industrializing its technology for the production of sustainable, synthetic fuels. In Jülich, Germany, the company is currently building “DAWN”, the world’s first industrial demonstration plant for solar fuel. Synhelion will commission the plant this year and produce the first small quantities of fuel for demonstration purposes.
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