Airbus has teamed up with London’s Gatwick Airport, easyjet and hydrogen supplier Air Products to expand hydrogen capability and infrastructure the UK.
Under Airbus’ Hydrogen Hubs at Airports framework, the scope of work covers liquid hydrogen supply and storage at the airport, refuelling and ground handling of hydrogen aircraft, as well as the exploration of other, shorter-term opportunities for using hydrogen at London Gatwick.
“We’ve set ambitious targets to fly on hydrogen by 2035 and this technology needs to be supported by reliable and tested infrastructure,” said Glenn Llewellyn, Airbus’ Vice President ZEROe Project.
“Sharing knowledge and best practice at airports will be critical for building the right hydrogen ecosystem around the world and we look forward to working with all consortium members to develop the support for the technology and end-to-end hydrogen supply chain that will power future flight.”
Because early hydrogen-powered aircraft will initially focus on short to medium haul routes, Gatwick stated that it was the ""ideal"" testbed for R&D into critical support infrastructure.
“Alongside Sustainable Aviation Fuels, hydrogen stands out as having real potential to help us decarbonise Scope 3 emissions at the airport, particularly for the short haul aircraft that dominate London Gatwick’s operations,” said Stewart Wingate, CEO of London Gatwick. “We still have a long way to go and a lot of hard work to do, but today’s exciting partnership is an important early step toward reaching our net zero ambitions.”
The partnership will add to the ongoing work easyJet and Airbus are already doing with Hydrogen South West.
London Gatwick joins Airbus' global hydrogen hub network
