Zephyr 8 has finally broken the world flight endurance record
April 28, 2025
The AALTO Zephyr actually broke the third oldest fixed-wing aviation record just before midnight (at 23:33Z) on 25 April 2025. The aircraft had previously broken the previous record for unmanned flight duration, staying aloft for 25 days and 23 hours on its 2018 maiden flight.
Subsequently the Zephyr made a 64-day continuous flight during a US Army test flight before encountering an unspecified “unexpected event” that led to its termination. This
64-day flight narrowly failed to break the all-time world record for the longest powered flight by a matter of just a few hours.
AALTO is an Airbus subsidiary, which designs and manufactures the world-record-breaking Zephyr High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS), the world’s most persistent fixed-wing, solar-electric stratospheric HAPS. Zephyr is a solar-electric aircraft, with secondary batteries that recharge during the day for night flight.
Zephyr’s long endurance allows it to fly continuously for months at a time, operating at more than 60,000 feet, in the stratosphere, high above the weather and conventional air traffic.
The Zephyr HAPS aircraft offers connectivity and Earth observation services.
