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The demand for environmentally friendly power technology for a variety of aircraft applications has risen considerably in recent years as the aviation sector expands to meet the needs of a growing global population. The hydrogen fuel cell, which is a device that converts chemical energy directly to electrical energy, seems to be an alternative solution to conventional systems. The use of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) or the Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) for onboard energy generation is gaining importance. PEMFCs have many advantages over other fuel cells and their room temperature/close to room temperature operation makes them suitable for aviation applications. However, there are a few hurdles, such as the use of platinum catalyst, which accounts for half of the fuel cell's cost, it is readily poisoned by CO, necessitating the installation of a mechanism that eliminates CO in the fuel gas and the use of electrolyte membranes, such as Nafion. As a result, the large-scale use of PEMFC is hampered. Tremendous efforts have been devoted to the development of low-cost platinum free catalysts to replace the existing Platinum Group Metals (PGM) catalyst. This review is on the recent advances in non-noble metal catalysts suitable for PEM fuel cells to reduce the overall cost of the fuel cell system leading to its successful commercialization. Feasibility of replacing platinum-based catalysts, challenges associated with replacing the conventional catalysts, the effectiveness, and performance evaluation of new catalysts in comparison with the current platinum-based catalysts in PEM fuel cells are discussed.