The agreement has just been signed on the occasion of the visit of the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, to Sweden. Airbus announces cooperation with Sweden and Norway to develop its plane of the future.
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In addition to Airbus, the initiative around the construction of a hydrogen plane brings together the Swedish airport manager Swedavia, the Swedish electricity and gas producer Vattenfall and the airline SAS. The objective of this cooperation is to master the entire concept. They will thus supervise all operations linked to the construction of these hydrogen-powered aircraft, including the development of the necessary infrastructure.
Special installations
The announcement of the development of this project by Airbus dates from four years ago. And the agreement has just been signed on the occasion of the visit of the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, to Sweden, on January 31. There are still significant modifications to be made to the aircraft itself and the ground environment. The infrastructure itself must be put in place, with fuel tanks and storage capacities. A hydrogen-powered aircraft requires specific storage capacities. Highly flammable, hydrogen must be liquefied at a temperature of -250 degrees Celsius, and stored in so-called cryogenic tanks, the volume of which is four times greater than those which contain kerosene. Hence the interest in developing the project in northern countries where the temperature is more favorable than in southern Europe.
Additionally, Sweden and Norway have great potential to produce hydrogen from renewable energy sources. Burning hydrogen directly in engines is supposed to release only water vapor, without emitting CO2. But the concept is still debated, because 90% of hydrogen today is produced from fossil sources.
International coordination
Furthermore, it is also necessary to reprogram the safety process around a fuel different from traditional kerosene and review the accompanying regulatory framework.
Partnerships have already been signed with around ten countries but the agreement signed with Sweden and Norway will make it possible to study the feasibility of the project in more than fifty airports. For Airbus, it is also a nice diplomatic and marketing coup because it was in Sweden that the “Flygskam” movement – “Ashamed of flying” – was born in 2018, this movement which encourages people to favor other means of transport that the plane considered too polluting.