Having set three world records in a 2010 flight, including the record for the longest endurance flight for an unmanned aircraft of 336 hours, 22 minutes and 8 seconds, the Zephyr has now set a record of 61,696 ft (18,805 m) for the highest altitude reached in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), along with the longest flight in the UAE with the test flight lasting 23 hours and 47 minutes.

But it is not the latest altitude and endurance records that are the most notable aspects of the flight, but the fact it marked the first time a HAPS flight has been authorized by a civil authority: in this case, the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA). The flight started at 6:31 am local time on September 11 with the Zephyr taking off from the Margham area of Dubai and completing a full day/night cycle of operation close to one of the three busiest airports in the world without affecting civil air traffic, before landing back in Dubai at 6:18 am on September 12.

The team responsible for the test flight included engineers from the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST), which has partnered with Airbus Defence & Space to jointly develop the HAPS system.