Media Centre

Please click here to read the statement at SATE's website. SATE consortium partners are listed here.

Inverness, Scotland & Hilversum, The Netherlands, 29 September 2025 — Here we reproduce verbatim the statement from SATE.

Innovations in aviation such as cargo-carrying drones and electric planes are getting closer to taking off regularly in the Highlands and Islands due to new funding. The area is already testing a series of state-of-the-art technologies that could overcome historic challenges of remoteness and cost of connectivity. New support will help bring projects from the test and demonstration stage to commercial development.

The Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE) project will deliver a regional sustainable aviation strategy for the region. This will create a roadmap for new technologies to eventually help support lifeline services as well as net zero ambitions and bring economic development to the area.

Pioneering projects could bring improvements for residents and visitors, as well as revolutionising logistics for businesses and healthcare. Among the future uses of drone and low-carbon aircraft could be in the rapid delivery of medicines, such as chemotherapy drugs, significantly helping patients and cutting waste. It could also help high-value, time-sensitive industries such as seafood and aquaculture, where delays can drastically impact product quality and economic viability.

"These technologies offer a means to bypass traditional transport bottlenecks, enabling producers to maintain competitiveness by minimising spoilage and financial losses. Rapid air mobility addresses critical infrastructure requirements within the renewable energy sector, facilitating prompt delivery of essential parts to wind farms and other assets." — SATE

SATE established the UK's first operationally based low-carbon aviation test centre, based at Kirkwall Airport. Led by the regional transport partnership, the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HITRANS), it has evolved to become a major regional asset.

SATE has now been granted a new round of funding through the UK Government's Future Flight Regional Demonstrator fund. This new round of funding brings together 13 consortium partners and includes Hybrid Air Vehicles, Skyports Deliveries, Streamline Shipping Agencies, European Marine Energy Centre, University of the Highlands and Islands, Urban Foresight, Windracers, Regional & Business Airports Group, Loganair, Shetland Islands Council, Cormorant SEAplanes and Cranfield Aerospace Solutions.

The £199,912 funding across the partners will go towards the costs of delivering the strategy. In-depth case studies will be undertaken across the region, focused on Orkney and Argyll & Bute, to inform the overall strategy. Findings will also help develop aviation projects for other remote and rural regions where aviation is essential.

"The Highlands and Islands is uniquely placed for this work, with much of the region characterised by dispersed populations, remote and rural communities, and energy infrastructure challenges. The region is therefore dependent on aviation for access to key services such as employment, education, healthcare, and social and leisure activities. However, the cost of subsidising an increasing demand for regional air travel, in line with UK and Scottish Government net zero targets, make it vital that we explore more sustainable methods of flying to meet the needs of the region with both environmentally and economically efficient solutions." — David Holden, Regional Sustainable Aviation Manager, HITRANS

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For media enquiries, please contact:
Chris Rijff, CEO | T: +31 653 76 31 25 | media@cormorant.aero

About Cormorant Aerospace

Cormorant Aerospace is a Dutch aviation start-up dedicated to developing a sustainable, adaptable, electric aircraft. With a focus on innovation, certification, and practicality, the company aims to revolutionise regional air travel and better serve remoter communities. cormorant.aero

Hilversum, The Netherlands, 15 April 2025 — Cormorant Aerospace has announced that its electric short take-off and landing (eSTOL) aircraft will initially use Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) to pursue EASA certification. The aircraft, capable of carrying eight passengers, is designed for hybrid operation with future adaptability to hydrogen or battery systems.

While the ultimate goal is hydrogen-powered flight, regulatory readiness for certifying hydrogen systems remains limited. As a result, Cormorant is beginning its certification programme with a SAF-powered turbogenerator and battery hybrid model, positioning the aircraft for early EASA approval while retaining a clear pathway to zero-emission operation.

With over 400 kilometres of range on hydrogen and a modular, flexible powertrain architecture, the aircraft is aimed at both remote communities and regional operators. The project is supported by aviation specialists including Hoffmann Propeller and Leichtwerk AG, and uses certified components wherever possible to streamline the approval process.

The team expects operational ground tests to begin in 2026 and is actively preparing for external investment to support certification, production ramp-up, and a public demonstration at Aero Friedrichshafen.

— ENDS —

For media enquiries, please contact:
Chris Rijff, CEO | T: +31 653 76 31 25 | media@cormorant.aero

About Cormorant Aerospace

Cormorant Aerospace is a Dutch aviation start-up dedicated to developing a sustainable, adaptable, electric aircraft. With a focus on innovation, certification, and practicality, the company aims to revolutionise regional air travel and better serve remoter communities. cormorant.aero

Braunschweig, Germany & Edinburgh, Scotland, 10 March 2023 — Cormorant SEAplanes Ltd is developing a revolutionary new, electric, amphibious, short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft, possibly to be made using nature's original, renewable, composite material: wood.

Recently announced further funding, as part of the Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE 2) programme based in Kirkwall, Scotland, is helping bring the Cormorant project to the next level.

Part of this project is a flight dynamics investigation leading to invaluable information on stability and controllability, aerodynamics, aircraft performance, handling quality, and powertrain performance requirements.

Therefore, Chris Rijff, Managing Director of Cormorant SEAplanes Ltd, is today visiting a new partner organisation, Leichtwerk AG based in Braunschweig, Germany. At Leichtwerk, the Cormorant prototype airframe has found a temporary home and will be used for further aircraft configuration analyses.

Both companies are happy to be working together and are excited about the progress of, and prospects for, the project.

"Supporting innovative aircraft projects from concept to flight testing is one of our specialties. We are especially enthusiastic when these projects will contribute to more sustainable and safer general aviation." — Reiner Kickert, CEO, Leichtwerk AG

"This represents a major step toward optimising the flight dynamics of Cormorant prior to the next stage – construction of a flying prototype. We welcome Leichtwerk AG as a valued addition to the community of organisations with which we are collaborating to drive our project forward." — Chris Rijff, Managing Director, Cormorant SEAplanes Ltd

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Note for Editors

Leichtwerk AG: Leichtwerk AG is an EASA Part 21J Design Organization and works on the latest technologies in all disciplines related to manned and unmanned flight. The focus lies on qualified hardware and software solutions, leading to entire aircraft systems and concrete applications. Web: leichtwerk.de

Cormorant: Cormorant SEAplanes Ltd is developing a practical, adaptable, 8-seat, amphibious aircraft with a focus on sustainability — viewed holistically, beyond zero emissions, to consider construction materials, the supply chain, and as a minimal / low infrastructure requirement transport solution. Web: cormorant.aero | media@cormorant.aero

Kirkwall, Scotland & Edinburgh, Scotland, 6 March 2023 — A project set to deliver the blueprint for net zero regional aviation in the UK has secured new funding of £1.7 million and added three new partners as it enters the next stage of development.

The Orkney-based Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE) project, which was launched in November 2020, secured the investment from the Future Flight Challenge at UK Research and Innovation as part of their Phase 3 funding competition.

Phase 2 of SATE, which is led by Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL), aims to build on the success of the project which has already created the UK's first low-carbon aviation test centre embedded at a commercial airport. HIAL's Kirkwall Airport is home to the test centre.

ARC Aero Systems, Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), and Cormorant SEAplanes have now joined the international consortium as technology partners, to bring access to new technologies which will complement the existing offering, while demonstrating a wider range of sustainable aviation technology.

"SATE plays a key role in supporting HIAL's environmental objective to decarbonise our airport operations as well as our long-term vision to become a net-zero carbon regional airport group. The addition of these new technology partners will help take us a step closer to real solutions for the future of sustainable aviation." — Inglis Lyon, Managing Director, HIAL

The added technology includes:

• ARC Aero Systems' heavy lift civil hybrid-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
• HAV's Airlander aircraft — an entirely new category of aircraft using a combination of buoyant lift from helium, aerodynamic lift and vectored thrust.
• Cormorant SEAplanes' electric, hybrid-powertrain, 7-seat aircraft with both land-only and amphibious capabilities.

"Cormorant looks forward to working with partners across the SATE programme. For a company such as ours, the opportunities from participation cannot be over-emphasised. SATE provides an ideal, practical developmental ecosystem with opportunities for working together such that Cormorant can progress toward realisation as a sustainable, air transport solution for remoter communities' needs." — Chris Rijff, Managing Director, Cormorant SEAplanes Ltd

Launched in November 2020, the SATE project has seen pioneering sustainable aviation technology demonstration flights delivered, including a successful collaboration between drone specialist Windracers with Royal Mail on autonomous flights, demonstrations of Flare Bright's parcel-sized gliding drone system, and the first hybrid electric flights for Scotland pioneered by Ampaire.

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Note for Editors

The Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE): Launched in November 2020, SATE is the UK's first operation-based, low carbon aviation test centre, based at HIAL's Kirkwall Airport in the Orkney Islands. It provides the blueprint for net zero regional aviation, placing the UK at the forefront of the transition to low carbon aviation. sate.scot

Cormorant: Cormorant SEAplanes Ltd is developing a practical, adaptable, amphibious aircraft with a focus on sustainability. Web: cormorant.aero | media@cormorant.aero