Airbus Nordic Partnership Sets Course for Hydrogen-powered Flight

DALLAS — Airbus, Avinor, SAS (SK), Swedavia AB, and Vattenfall have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to investigate the viability of installing hydrogen infrastructure at airports in Sweden and Norway.

The partnership consists of the Swedish flag carrier, SK, Swedavia AB, a Swedish state-owned company that owns and operates ten of Sweden's busiest airports, and Vattenfall, another Swedish state-owned multinational power company. Avinor is a wholly-owned state-limited company under the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications and is responsible for 43 state-owned airports.

To support the development of this hydrogen aviation ecosystem in both nations, our partnership will improve our understanding of hydrogen aircraft ideas and operations, supply, infrastructure, and refueling demands at airports. Together with identifying the associated legislative framework, the effort will also determine the process for choosing which airports in both nations will be converted first to accommodate hydrogen-powered aircraft.

This kind of feasibility assessment, which looks at more than 50 airports across two countries, has never been done before.

In addition to greatly lowering aircraft emissions in the air, using hydrogen to power future airplanes may also contribute to the decarbonization of air travel-related ground operations. To introduce the first hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft into service by 2035, Airbus launched the ZEROe concept in 2020. Within a global research and technological network, work is currently being done on developing the matching technological bricks.

To expedite research on low-carbon airport operations and infrastructure requirements throughout the whole value chain, Airbus also initiated the "Hydrogen Hub at Airports" program. Ten nations—France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, and the United Kingdom—have agreements inked with partners and airports to support the decarbonization of the aviation industry and to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Featured image: Turboprop concept of ZEROe hydrogen-powered aircraft. Render: Airbus