Airbus has scaled back its ambitious "green" hydrogen-powered aircraft project, postponing the launch of the first zero-emission hydrogen passenger airliner until the mid-2040s and cutting the program's annual budget by about 25%, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Five years ago, Airbus promised to put a hydrogen-powered plane capable of seating up to 200 people and flying up to 2,000 nautical miles (3,704 km) by 2035, an event the company positioned as the next big leap in aviation since the jet engine. But after investing more than $1.7 billion and facing a series of technical hurdles this spring, Airbus executives concluded that the 2035 target was no longer achievable.
The company has abandoned the idea of using liquid hydrogen to power the turbines of modified engines (which would not have completely eliminated nitrogen oxide emissions). Instead, Airbus will focus on hydrogen fuel cells, which use a chemical reaction to generate energy for an electric motor. They will produce only water vapor, but will require a more radical redesign of the airframe and powerplant. So the company now plans to create a smaller plane with a capacity of about 100 passengers and a range of 1,000 nautical miles (1,852 km). According to insiders, this will push the first deliveries to the mid-2040s.
“Hydrogen remains our goal,” Bruno Fishefio, head of Airbus’s advanced programs division, told investors in March. “But to achieve it, we will have to adapt to reality.” Under the new plan, engineers will begin a second “development cycle” to reassess the trade-offs between cabin capacity, range and efficiency.
Airbus’s course correction echoes decisions by other major companies to review once-ambitious “green” initiatives. BP, for example, has cut investments in renewable energy in favor of oil and gas, and Porsche has slowed the pace of its transition to electric vehicles due to falling demand. For Airbus, the revision is also a response to the slow development of hydrogen infrastructure, open questions about storing liquid hydrogen at -253 °C, and the significant weight of the fuel tanks and cells required.
At the start of the project in late 2020, Airbus involved “pilot” airlines (including Delta and Air New Zealand) and more than 200 airports in testing hydrogen technology. However, skepticism from engine manufacturers and air carriers increased, as hydrogen propulsion was in its early stages of development.
Airbus's bet on hydrogen was closely linked to French state support: as a condition of €15 billion in aid to the aerospace industry in 2020, the company committed to developing "green" aircraft by the mid-2030s. Hydrogen research has provided access to additional "green" funding from public and private sources and has helped attract engineers at a time when environmental issues have been in the spotlight.
Airbus hopes the extra time will allow it to fine-tune fuel cell and cryogenic storage technologies before mass production. However, the revised timeline and scope of the program marks a significant reassessment of the ambitions for hydrogen aviation and paves the way for other technologies, such as sustainable aviation fuels or hybrid electric motors.