Not exactly news . . .
Apologies that I don't have references handy but in the 3 years since I last posted on this thread, a few companies are already flying scheduled short-haul passenger flight in North America and Europe.
Contrary to my last entry, the aircraft that are being used seem to be going the way of battery power (rather than hydrogen) possibly due to the slow but steady inprovement of battery weight and capacity. Longer term I'm keeping my money on hydrogen (probably in carbon fibre tanks and filled from solar, wind/, and probably nuclear generation).