Friday, July 19, 2024 Airbus has partnered with London Gatwick, easyJet, and Air Products, the world’s largest hydrogen supplier, to enhance hydrogen capabilities and infrastructure in the UK, aiming to launch a hydrogen-powered aircraft by 2035. Establishing the necessary infrastructure is crucial for enabling hydrogen flight, and this collaboration marks a significant step toward realizing this goal in the UK. As part of Airbus’ Hydrogen Hubs at Airports initiative, the project encompasses liquid hydrogen supply and storage at the airport, refueling and ground handling of hydrogen aircraft, and exploring shorter-term hydrogen usage opportunities at London Gatwick.
Given that early hydrogen-powered aircraft will target short to medium-haul routes, London Gatwick’s role as the UK’s leading hub for these services, combined with easyJet’s expertise as a short-haul carrier, makes it an ideal site for R&D into essential support infrastructure. This partnership demonstrates a strong commitment from Airbus, London Gatwick, easyJet, and Air Products to making hydrogen-powered flight a reality by 2035. Airbus Vice President ZEROe Project Glenn Llewellyn said: “Our licence to operate hinges on finding better ways to fly.
We know hydrogen has the versatility to be an excellent fuel source for decarbonising the industry. We’ve set ambitious targets to fly on hydrogen by 2035 and this technology needs to be supported by reliable and tested infrastructure. Sharing knowledge .