€329.5m Horizon call for hybrid aircraft

A hybrid aircraft is basically a plane that splits its work between a fuel-burning engine and an electric system, the way a hybrid car uses both gasoline and a battery to save energy in different parts of a trip. Clean Aviation, the European Union’s aviation research partnership, has now opened a new call that includes a €329.5 million package for these kinds of aircraft demonstrations. (clean-aviation.eu) The money is not for a finished passenger jet. The main topic is ground demonstration, which means companies and labs have to prove big pieces of the propulsion system on test rigs and integrated hardware before anyone tries to certify them for airline service. (ec.europa.eu) That distinction matters because aircraft engines are not one machine but a stack of machines that all have to work together: turbine, electric motor, power electronics, cooling, wiring, controls, and the nacelle that wraps around the engine. A ground demonstrator is the aviation version of building the full drivetrain on a bench before bolting it into the car. (ec.europa.eu) The specific 2026 topic is called “Ground Demonstration of Hybrid-Electric Propulsion Architectures for the Ultra-efficient Short-Medium Range aircraft,” and it opened on March 30, 2026. The deadline listed on the European Commission’s Funding and Tenders Portal is May 18, 2026. (ec.europa.eu) Short and medium-range aircraft are the workhorses of aviation: the single-aisle jets that do the bulk of flights inside Europe and on many routes of roughly a few hours. Clean Aviation’s target concept for this class is a tube-and-wing aircraft carrying about 200 to 250 passengers over up to 3,000 nautical miles, with service entry targeted around 2035. (fundingprogrammesportal.gov.cy) The reason engineers keep chasing hybrid propulsion is that today’s batteries are too heavy to run a large airliner by themselves. A hybrid setup lets the electric side handle part of the job while the thermal engine still provides the energy density needed for a real transport aircraft. (cordis.europa.eu) This call sits inside a much bigger package. Clean Aviation said its fourth call for proposals totals €329.5 million across short-medium range aircraft, hydrogen-powered aircraft, regional aircraft, fast-track areas, and cross-cutting activities. (clean-aviation.eu) So this is not Brussels writing one giant check to one startup with a sketch of an electric plane. It is a structured research program that breaks the aircraft into pieces, funds demonstrations for those pieces, and tries to move each one closer to the technology levels needed for a real airframe in the 2030s. (clean-aviation.eu) Europe has been building toward this in steps. In 2025, Clean Aviation funded separate regional-aircraft topics for a hybrid-electric propulsion system, onboard systems for hybridization, and a flight-test demonstration, which shows the program is moving from paper studies toward hardware and test campaigns. (ec.europa.eu) One example already in the pipeline is the Hybrid Electric propulsion system for regional AiRcrafT project, known as HE-ART, which started on January 1, 2023 and runs through December 31, 2026 with more than €44.1 million in European Union contribution. Another is HERACLES, which started on January 1, 2026 to define an ultra-efficient regional aircraft concept using hybrid propulsion, high-performance batteries, and a thermal engine running on 100% sustainable aviation fuel. (cordis.europa.eu, cordis.europa.eu) The near-term result will not be a ticket you can book. The near-term result is supposed to be a set of tested propulsion architectures, integrated systems, and industrial evidence strong enough that Europe’s engine makers and airframe builders can decide which designs deserve the far more expensive step after this: flight hardware and certification. (ec.europa.eu, clean-aviation.eu)