Airbus is delaying plans to build a hydrogen-powered airliner by 2035. The company’s ZEROe initiative of 2020 set to design a 100-person aircraft fueled by hydrogen, with engine tests beginning in the late 2020s on an Airbus A380. Now, the company plans to instead focus on testing ducted and unducted engines powered by sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for its next-generation single-aisle plane.
Technology hurdles caused the delay
The French AFP news agency was the first to report the delay, which came about after a late 2024 review. That found many technology hurdles that hampered the development of a hydrogen-powered aircraft. Still, Airbus told Aviation Week it’s “committed to our goal of bringing a commercially viable, fully electric hydrogen-powered aircraft to market. This commitment aligns with our ambition to lead aviation decarbonization and support the industry’s long-term sustainability goals.”
The company added: “We recognize that developing a hydrogen ecosystem—including infrastructure, production, distribution and regulatory frameworks—is a huge challenge requiring global collaboration and investment. Recent developments indicate that progress on key enablers, particularly the availability of hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources at scale, is slower than anticipated.”
Signs of the delay appeared in December when hydrogen projects disappeared from RFPs for the next phase of Europe’s Clean Aviation research project. Airbus will still focus on clean, green technologies by testing new-generation engine concepts for the successor to the A320neo. That process began in 2022, with the company partnering with GE Aerospace and Safran joint venture company CFM International on the Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engine (RISE) open fan technology program.
