Aviation industry calls for UK investment in hydrogen fuel
The boss of easyJet airline has led an aviation industry call for the UK government to put more public money into helping hydrogen-powered passenger planes get off the ground. The low-cost airline on Monday joined an alliance of companies including Rolls-Royce, Airbus and GKN Aerospace in urging ministers to help fund the development of the nascent technology, which offers the possibility of flying with zero emissions in the coming decades but is commercially unproven. Johan Lundgren, easyJet’s CE, said the UK had a “leading” hydrogen sector, but needed to improve its record in scaling up promising start-up technologies. “We need to do something that the UK has not always had a good track record for — turning our innovative and exciting research and development into a long-term productive industrial sector,” he said. The aerospace companies published a report on Monday acknowledging that the UK government had supported the sector through initiatives such as the Aerospace Technology Institute, the body that allocates state funding for innovation in civil aviation, but that significantly more help was needed. “We need the conditions to be right. The right government policy, standards and regulations,” said Russ Dunn, chief technical officer of GKN Aerospace. EasyJet and its long-term aircraft manufacturer Airbus have argued that hydrogen will be an important part of the aviation industry’s pledge to reach net zero by 2050, even as other airlines and Boeing have appeared more circumspect. Airbus plans to have a zero-emissions hydrogen-powered plane ready for service by 2035 and is exploring four different concepts based on either hydrogen combustion or hydrogen fuel cell technology. Matt Finch, UK policy manager at environmental NGO Transport & Environment, which is not part of the hydrogen alliance, said that while technical problems were being overcome, there were still “massive hurdles”, including around the supply of hydrogen to airports, as well as the certification of hydrogen-powered aircraft.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2024-03-19/general/aviation-industry-calls-for-uk-investment-in-hydrogen-fuel
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Aviation industry calls for UK investment in hydrogen fuel
The boss of easyJet airline has led an aviation industry call for the UK government to put more public money into helping hydrogen-powered passenger planes get off the ground. The low-cost airline on Monday joined an alliance of companies including Rolls-Royce, Airbus and GKN Aerospace in urging ministers to help fund the development of the nascent technology, which offers the possibility of flying with zero emissions in the coming decades but is commercially unproven. Johan Lundgren, easyJet’s CE, said the UK had a “leading” hydrogen sector, but needed to improve its record in scaling up promising start-up technologies. “We need to do something that the UK has not always had a good track record for — turning our innovative and exciting research and development into a long-term productive industrial sector,” he said. The aerospace companies published a report on Monday acknowledging that the UK government had supported the sector through initiatives such as the Aerospace Technology Institute, the body that allocates state funding for innovation in civil aviation, but that significantly more help was needed. “We need the conditions to be right. The right government policy, standards and regulations,” said Russ Dunn, chief technical officer of GKN Aerospace. EasyJet and its long-term aircraft manufacturer Airbus have argued that hydrogen will be an important part of the aviation industry’s pledge to reach net zero by 2050, even as other airlines and Boeing have appeared more circumspect. Airbus plans to have a zero-emissions hydrogen-powered plane ready for service by 2035 and is exploring four different concepts based on either hydrogen combustion or hydrogen fuel cell technology. Matt Finch, UK policy manager at environmental NGO Transport & Environment, which is not part of the hydrogen alliance, said that while technical problems were being overcome, there were still “massive hurdles”, including around the supply of hydrogen to airports, as well as the certification of hydrogen-powered aircraft.<br/>
