Stralis Aircraft
Emission free hydrogen electric aircraft
Our planes fly 10 times further than battery electric alternatives, with a lower operating cost than fossil fuel powered aircraft. Our first product is a 15 seat aircraft with a range of 800 km that enters service in 2026 with launch customer Skytrans. Our team has over 85 years of aerospace experience and have developed, flight tested and certified aircraft at Google X, magniX, Heart Aerospace, Ampaire, Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and Gulfstream. We have $145M in aircraft LOIs from 7 airlines in the US, Europe and Australia.
Active Founders
Bob Criner, Founder
Bob is Co-Founder & CEO of Stralis Aircraft, where he uses his extensive international aerospace experience to drive company strategy and aircraft product development. He previously supported leading emission free aircraft projects at Heart Aerospace, Ampaire, magniX and Google X, combining a strong passion for sustainability with technical engineering skills. Born in Nashville, TN, he moved to Australia at 10 and studied Aerospace Engineering at UNSW in Sydney.
Stuart Johnstone, Founder
Stuart is co-founder and CTO at Stralis Aircraft and is leading the development of their lightweight hydrogen electric propulsion system. Stuart started his career in engineering working on superconducting magnets for MRI and scientific applications. This multidisciplinary experience along with an MSci in Physics from University of Glasgow gave him the tools to tackle novel and interesting engineering problems that can impact the planet for the better.
Company Launches
Hi! We’re Bob & Stuart from Stralis Aircraft in Australia. We make emission free hydrogen electric aircraft to help decarbonise air travel. We have $50M in LOIs for our launch product, a 15 seat aircraft with a range of 800 km that enters service in 2026 with launch customer Skytrans.
Ask: 🙏 Intros to airlines or aircraft operators that might be interested in our products would be greatly appreciated. Contact: bc@stralis.aero
Problem - Alternatives Compromise on Range or Cost
As other modes of transport decarbonise, aviation’s contribution to global emissions will increase. Based on our first hand experience, we believe other sustainable flight alternatives compromise on:
- Battery Electric - limited range & payload
- Hybrid Electric - expensive to operate, limited emission reduction
- Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) - expensive & emits other harmful pollutants (NOx, sulphates, particulates)
Solution - Hydrogen Electric Propulsion
We're convinced hydrogen electric is the cheapest way to rapidly decarbonise 50% of commercial flights.
- How it works - Green hydrogen and air are combined in a fuel cell stack to produce electric power, which is used by an electric motor to turn a propeller. The only thing emitted during this process is water.
- Our proprietary hydrogen electric propulsion system is 35% lighter than the competition, unlocking useful aircraft ranges at low cost.
- Our first product is a retrofit of an already certified aircraft, allowing us to get to market quicker and cheaper.
- We plan to deliver 50,000 of our 48 seat SA-1 aircraft by 2050, generating $850B in revenue.
Our Backstory
We met in 2017 at magniX, leading teams developing electric aircraft propulsion systems for the world’s first battery powered eBeaver and eCaravan flights. The Stralis team has 85 years of aerospace experience, having developed, flight tested and certified aircraft at GoogleX, Heart Aerospace (YC W19), Ampaire, Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and Gulfstream. Now we’re on a mission to make Stralis the world’s leading emission free aircraft company. Spread the good word!
Company Photo
Selected answers from Stralis Aircraft's original YC application for the W23 Batch
Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.
We make emission free hydrogen electric aircraft
How long have each of you been working on this? How much of that has been full-time? Please explain.
We started working on Stralis as a side hustle in Oct 2020, but we still had full time jobs. We founded the company in Jul 2021 and quit our day jobs in Jan 2022 to work full-time on Stralis.
What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.
We make high performance, low operating cost hydrogen electric aircraft that can be built at scale. Our MVP is a 15-seat hydrogen electric retrofit of the Beech 1900D aircraft. It flies 800 km, emits only water, is cheaper to operate than the conventional fossil fuel burning aircraft, and enters commercial service in 2026. Retrofitting an existing aircraft lets us get to market faster. Our flagship product is the SA-1 clean sheet 50-seat aircraft that leverages learnings from our B1900D program, flies 3,000 km and enters service in 2030. We aim to sell 50,000 of these 50 seat aircraft by 2050, aka 50K x 50 x 2050. This is more aircraft than Airbus has made in it's 50 year history. We realise this sounds crazy, but we will get a toe hold in the market by first retrofitting smaller aircraft with Stralis propulsion systems that carry double the payload vs. the competition.