Airbus is poised to confirm a delay to its 2035 target for the launch of a hydrogen-powered aircraft in a blow to plans to decarbonise flying.
The announcement, expected on February 20 when Airbus reports its results, will set back hopes for the rapid development of hydrogen to fuel aircraft.
It will come just days after the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced an expansion of its ‘Hydrogen Challenge’, with “multiple UK companies working to develop the technology and infrastructure to see widespread hydrogen fuel use in aviation”.
French trade union Force Ouvriere said Airbus told staff on February 6 that it would delay by up to 10 years plans “to bring the world’s first hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft to market by 2035”.
Airbus intends to cut its budget for hydrogen projects by 25%, terminate “certain sub-projects” and axe plans to test hydrogen fuel-cell engines.
Airbus declined to comment while in a ‘closed period’ ahead of its results statement but confirmed a hydrogen aircraft would “come later than 2035” while insisting it remains “committed to bringing a commercially viable, hydrogen-powered aircraft to market”.
The company noted: “Developing a hydrogen ecosystem is a huge challenge [and] progress on key enablers is slower than anticipated.”
However, Airbus had insisted early last week that “2035 remains the ambition”.
The announcement will be a particular blow to easyJet which has gone further than other airlines in investing in projects to develop both hydrogen and electric-powered aircraft.
EasyJet partnered with Roll Royce in testing hydrogen to fuel a gas turbine engine in the US last July, and in April the carrier joined the CAA at Bristol Airport in a first airside hydrogen-refuelling trial.
EasyJet has said it is “committed to being at the forefront of the development of hydrogen combustion engine technology capable of powering a range of aircraft from the mid-2030s”.
Airbus has developed several projects using hydrogen as a power source since setting the 2035 goal in 2020.
However, chief executive Guillaume Faury acknowledged in January: “It’s not enough to have a plane if you have no infrastructure, no hydrogen in the right place at the right quantity and right price.”
Aviation industry groups in Europe, including Airlines for Europe (A4E) and airports association ACI Europe, published an updated Destination 2050 roadmap on emissions reduction last week which downgraded the estimated impact of hydrogen.
The revised roadmap estimates hydrogen as responsible for just 6% of net emissions reduction by 2050, down from a 2021 estimate of 20%, and greater reliance on sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs).
The Airbus hydrogen project, christened ZEROe, had been expected to develop a 100-seat, short-haul turboprop aircraft powered either directly by hydrogen or by hybrid hydrogen-electric fuel cells.
Airbus rival Boeing has been more sceptical of hydrogen, noting the much greater fire risk and additional weight and fuel tanks hydrogen’s use would require.