(Hamburg) – Hamburg Airport is the first German member of the international “Hydrogen Hub at Airport” network. The merger is intended to promote, develop and expand the further expansion of the hydrogen infrastructure in aviation.
Signing of the contract between Hamburg Airport and Airbus (from left): Karine Guenan (Head of ZEROe Ecosystem at Airbus), Christian Kunsch (Managing Director at Hamburg Airport), Nicole Dreyer-Langlet (Managing Director of Airbus Germany and responsible for research and technology), Michael Eggenschwiler (Chairman of Management at Hamburg Airport). © Hamburg Airport
The “Hydrogen Hub”, based on a concept from Airbus, includes airports, airlines and energy sectors in eleven countries, including France, USA, Great Britain, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. The aerospace company had its “ZEROe“ mentioned approach presented in 2020. The concept is intended to help research the design and layout of the world's first climate-neutral, zero-emission hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft and put it into service by 2035.
The ZEROe concept involves working with airports to develop a phased approach to decarbonizing airport facilities, ground operations and transport using hydrogen. © Airbus SAS
“Hamburg Airport’s expertise in hydrogen will be an invaluable asset on our journey to the ZEROe ecosystem,” said Karine Guénan, Head of ZEROe Hydrogen Ecosystem. The cooperation in Hamburg also includes the industrial gas and engineering company Linde.
All four ZEROe concept aircraft developed so far are powered by hydrogen. In the case of hydrogen combustion, gas turbines with modified fuel injectors and fuel systems are powered by hydrogen in a similar way to today's internal combustion engine aircraft. A second method involves generating electricity with fuel cells, which in turn drives electric motors and propellers.
Hydrogen roadmap for Hamburg
The German Aerospace Center (DLR) recently had one together with Hamburg Airport Roadmap developed for the use of hydrogen at airports. If we want to enable the use of this new technology, “we have to ensure that the infrastructure is developed and ready for use when the first aircraft take off,” says Michael Eggenschwiler, CEO at Hamburg Airport.
The roadmap shows an example of how this can work - from the expected hydrogen demand, to the supply and the costs that can be expected from today's perspective, to the adaptation of the airport infrastructure and operational changes to the processes.
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Airbus wants to research and put a hydrogen-powered airliner into service by 2035. © Airbus SAS
