Zephyr units world-record for longest steady flight, flying 67 days in stratosphere – sUAS Information

• Zephyr breaks its personal document of 64 days flight within the stratosphere, after years of successive data for unmanned flights all through twenty years of growth
• Document flight noticed advances in Zephyr’s efficiency, together with crossing the ITCZ and navigating quite a few flight info areas
• Established by Airbus to commercialise Zephyr, AALTO is now in a robust place to progress its journey to commercialise HAPS companies by 2026

Nairobi, Kenya: AALTO HAPS Ltd. (“AALTO” or “the Firm”), an Airbus subsidiary primarily based in Farnborough, UK, has set a world-record for world aviation with its Zephyr Excessive Altitude Platform Station (HAPS). Designed, manufactured and operated by AALTO, Zephyr concluded 67 days, 6 hours and 52 minutes of steady flight within the stratosphere on 28 April 2025. This surpassed Zephyr’s earlier flight document of 64 days in 2022, and breaks the world-record for longest flight period that has stood for half a century.

After launching from its AALTOPORT in Kenya on 20 February 2025, Zephyr carried out connectivity payload testing earlier than transiting to Australian airspace. Throughout this transit, Zephyr navigated 7 completely different flight info areas, probably the most ever recorded by a HAPS. As well as, the plane crossed the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) twice – an illustration of Zephyr’s stability and efficiency throughout altering climate circumstances in southern and northern hemispheres.

The record-breaking flight terminated safely over a chosen aviation sanctuary space within the Indian ocean. Related authorities have been promptly notified by AALTO.

After a decade of stewardship by Airbus Defence and Area, Zephyr has established itself because the main HAPS platform on the earth. Zephyr’s most up-to-date record-breaking flight was facilitated by a regulatory framework in Kenya, led by the Kenya Area Company and Kenya Civil Aviation Authority. With the help of its regulators, shareholders and companions, AALTO is getting ready to commercialise HAPS companies with preliminary focused entry-into-service in Japan throughout 2026.

Hughes Boulnois, Chief Govt Officer of AALTO, commented: “AALTO and Zephyr are on the forefront of innovation in aerospace. With this new world-record flight, we’ve pushed the boundaries once more for the burgeoning HAPS business and aviation globally with a solar-powered, stratospheric plane. Stewarding probably the most superior HAPS, we’ve demonstrated our capabilities which can be beneficial for business and authorities companions. Our focus for 2025 is constant to combine HAPS into the area, defence and connectivity ecosystems: progressing the business part for this pioneering know-how.”

Pierre-Antoine Aubourg, Chief Know-how Officer, added: “Zephyr is a novel plane. Its efficiency throughout this flight underlines its technological robustness, compliance with flight procedures and security fashions. Zephyr’s flight envelope is probably the most superior in world HAPS, enabling protected and dependable efficiency and most oversight by AALTO and regulatory authorities. As we proceed to business companies, we are going to proceed to interrupt new floor for aviation security and efficiency.”

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