Heart Aerospace Flies X1 Electric Demonstrator Aircraft

Heart Aerospace has completed the inaugural flight of its X1 technology demonstrator aircraft, which the start-up said is the largest battery-electric aircraft ever flown. The milestone—which lasted a total of 27 minutes—took place on Thursday from California-based Heart’s flight test base at New York’s Plattsburgh International Airport.

“With the first flight of X1, Heart Aerospace has demonstrated electric flight at the scale of a commercial airliner,” said founder and CEO Anders Forslund. During the flight, which was conducted under an FAA Experimental Category Special Airworthiness Certificate (SAC-EC), the aircraft reached an altitude of 1,100 feet agl while its all-electric propulsion system delivered over one megawatt of power. 

Heart’s X1 full-scale demonstrator is the precursor of its thirty seat ES-30 hybrid-electric regional airliner, which the company intends to enter service in 2031. While Heart claims the X1 is “representative” of its upcoming production aircraft, it is currently developing “the first pre-production ES-30” at its pilot manufacturing plant in Los Angeles. It hopes to start flying this demonstrator in 2028. 

The X1 demonstrator was first publicly unveiled from Heart’s former Swedish headquarters in September 2024. At the time, Heart said it intended to start flight testing in the second quarter of 2025, with a subsequent X2 pre-production prototype to commence flying in 2026. Announcing a permanent move to the U.S, Heart revealed it would be flying X1 from Plattsburg after moving the aircraft from its Gothenburg, Sweden site in early 2025.