Airbus gears up for hydrogen jet as fuel of future edges closer to reality

Hydrogen’s moment is fast approaching, according to Airbus. Talked about as the fuel of the future for years, Guillaume Faury, the planemaker’s CE, says the company is ready to start building a hydrogen-powered commercial airliner before the end of the decade. Europe’s aerospace champion is increasingly confident that 2035 is a “fair and realistic perspective” for a hydrogen plane to enter service, despite scepticism among other industry leaders about how quickly the gas can make an impact on aviation emissions. “We don’t need to change the laws of physics to go with hydrogen. Hydrogen has an energy density three times that of kerosene — [technically it] is made for aviation,” Faury said. Faury’s comments signal Airbus’s growing confidence that the company will be able to tackle the complex engineering and safety challenges needed to make hydrogen-powered aircraft work. Faury warned, however, that government and regulatory support would be needed. Airbus, said Faury, needed to have a “degree of certainty” of the regulatory environment and the availability of the fuel by 2027/28, when the company will have to decide whether or not to invest billions in a new hydrogen plane programme.  “This [decarbonisation] challenge is not only about an aeroplane, it’s about having the right fuels — hydrogen — at the right time, at the right place, at the right price and that is not something that aviation can manage alone,” he said.  Faury’s remarks underline the increasing urgency in the aviation industry as it strives to meet zero-emission targets by 2050. <br/>