Airbus CEO Expects To Launch ZEROe Aircraft Program By 2028
Airbus provided two key updates on the ZEROe program and on the A320neo aircraft family successor, known as the Next Generation Single Aisle (NGSA).
- Airbus is exploring two hydrogen technologies, liquid hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cells, for its ZEROe program.
- Airbus plans to launch the ZEROe program by the end of the decade, with an entry-into-service target of 2035.
- The successor to the A320neo is being developed and is expected to be fully powered by Sustainable Aviation Fuel.
Airbus has revealed more details on its ZEROe program, which the manufacturer announced in September 2020. According to its chief executive, the plane maker is currently exploring two hydrogen technologies: directly burning liquid hydrogen or using it in a fuel cell to turn hydrogen into electricity.
At the same time, Airbus is already preparing the successor for the A320neo, planning a new aircraft to replace its best-selling product in the next decade. The manufacturer expected that the replacement jet would enter service at the second half of the next decade, meaning mid-to-late 2030s.
Definitive timeline for ZEROe
Guillaume Faury, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Airbus, made his comments during the manufacturer’s annual press conference, answering a question from Simple Flying’s Tom Boon. According to Faury, Airbus is focusing on two technologies to power the ZEROe platform: liquid hydrogen, which would be similar to the current jet fuel propulsion system, and using hydrogen as a fuel cell, turning hydrogen into electricity onboard the aircraft, resulting in electric propulsion.
Sjekk video her: http://tinyurl.com/2v2fsx45
“We are moving with ZEROe very strongly,” he noted, adding that the manufacturer will continue researching the two different technologies in the coming years. However, Faury reiterated that while everybody is rightly focusing on the product, which the public can see as well, the CEO emphasized that there are many more factors to launch the new-generation program. He explained that there are challenges related to,
“The technology, the product itself, the regulatory framework that is less visible but we cannot be launching a product if we do not have certification standards for the production, logistics, distribution of hydrogen on-site, on airports […].”
Entry-into-service in 2035
Faury added that there are questions on how to certify hydrogen-powered aircraft as well, and all of these things need to be taken care of. Furthermore, the manufacturer noted that the hydrogen ecosystem around the airport has to be mature enough at the launch date of the ZEROe program so that the airlines that would order a hydrogen aircraft could actually find green hydrogen at their base airports.
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