Tag: hydrogen concept

Rolls-Royce Sees Hydrogen as SAF Future

Aviation International News reports that hydrogen “may be the fuel of the future, but it’s probably best used to create sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) rather than a direct fuel source for hydrogen-powered aircraft that do not yet exist today.” Rolls-Royce’s Senior Vice President of Strategy Frank Moesta said Wednesday during a panel discussion on novel propulsion at EBACE 2023, “To be honest, I’m not a big fan of thinking about burning hydrogen in an aircraft.” Moesta added that he “would prefer to see hydrogen being used to create eFuels – a synthetic form of SAF – rather than develop aircraft with entirely different propulsion systems.” Moestra explained that eFuel “can be produced locally more easily and sustainably than ordinary SAF, which is made from agricultural feedstocks.” This would make eFuel “more accessible than regular SAF, which is only produced in a handful of facilities around the world today.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)

Aviation Industry Considers Hydrogen Power

FlightGlobal reports that during the Sustainable Skies World Summit, The Boeing Company Sustainability and Future Mobility Vice President and Chief Engineer Brian Yutko said aviation engineers faced “a once in a generation renaissance” regarding hydrogen-powered aviation.
Full Story (FlightGlobal)

Delta, Airbus Partner on Hydrogen-Powered Aircraft Development

Reuters reports that Delta Air Lines plans to help Airbus in its effort to develop a hydrogen-powered passenger aircraft. Delta highlighted that the partnership does not entail any financial investment on its part. Airbus research and technology VP Amanda Simpson stated that the company has plans to produce a small “ZEROe” passenger aircraft powered by hydrogen to enter service in 2035 and get feedback from customers while the next aircraft is being developed. The carrier said the partnership would also advocate for a decarbonized future in aviation, including hydrogen pathways, with key stakeholders. The Boeing Company has been more skeptical about commercial prospects for hydrogen-powered air transport by 2035, putting the greater public focus on SAF.
Full Story (Reuters)

Airbus CEO: Hydrogen Aircraft “Ultimate Solution” to Environmental Issues

CNBC reports Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said aviation could “potentially face significant hurdles if we don’t manage to decarbonize at the right pace.” Airbus is focusing on “ensuring planes burned less fuel” and emitted less carbon dioxide. Faury said, “We need to see the SAF industry moving forwards, being developed, being grown to serve airlines and to be able to use that capacity of 50% of SAF. We’ll go to 100% by the end of the decade.”
Full Story (CNBC)

Eurocontrol Says Aviation Industry Could Cut 25% of CO2 Output by 2030 Using Existing Technologies

Aviation International News reports that “every flight operating in Europe could become on average more than 25 percent ‘greener’ by 2030 while using existing technology, according to a new so-called think paper published by Eurocontrol on Tuesday.” The paper “asserts that the aviation industry can make significant progress toward the ‘perfect green flight’ through measures including increased use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), more efficient use of airspace, and fleet modernization by airlines.” The study “also concluded that emerging aircraft technologies in the form of hybrid, fully electric, and hydrogen airplanes will ‘transform’ aviation during the 20-year period starting in 2030. By 2050, those new airplanes will prevail on short- to medium-haul routes, while SAF use will predominate in long-haul operations.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)

Sources Say Airbus Is Favoring Turboprop Model for First Hydrogen Plane

Bloomberg reports that a “turboprop design is gaining momentum within Airbus SE as the solution to its challenge of developing a hydrogen jet by 2035, according to people familiar with the matter.” The “propeller plane would carry around 100 passengers for about 1,000 nautical miles.” The “other two designs are for a 200-seat blended wing, which Airbus has already said it’s unlikely to pursue first due to the challenges of certification, and a more-familiar-looking turbofan approach, which could fly more than 2,000 nautical miles – about two-thirds as far as the company’s mainstay A320 single-aisle jets.” A turboprop plane “would address a smaller market – it could make most hops between European cities, for example, but not fly trans-Atlantic routes or coast-to-coast in the U.S. That makes it less of a threat to conventional jets that go farther and faster.”
Full Story (Bloomberg)