Airbus and ZeroAvia have signed a series of partnerships with Canada’s three busiest airports, Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (YUL), Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR) to study the feasibility of hydrogen infrastructure at airports in Canada.
This is the first time that a feasibility study of this magnitude has taken place in Canada to pioneer hydrogen for aviation. It reflects the partners’ shared ambition to use their respective expertise to support the decarbonisation of the aviation industry and to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Canada is one of the most promising regions for hydrogen hubs due to its natural resources. Canada has great potential for hydrogen production from renewable energy sources such as hydroelectric power.
“We know when it comes to climate change, aviation isn’t the enemy, carbon is. Looking into the feasibility of airports as Hydrogen Hubs is an important step on the journey to net zero carbon emissions,” said Tamara Vrooman, President and CEO at Vancouver International Airport.
“The collaboration between Airbus, ZeroAvia and the three biggest airports in Canada will help identify the changes required in our industry and supporting ecosystem to meet carbon reduction goals.”
This cooperation will provide better understanding of hydrogen aircraft concepts and operations, supply, infrastructure and refuelling needs at airports, with the goal of developing the hydrogen aviation ecosystem across the country. The work will also collaborate to support the development of regulations and standards.
The use of hydrogen to power future aircraft is not only expected to significantly reduce aircraft emissions in the air, but could also help decarbonise air transport activities on the ground.
In 2020, Airbus unveiled the first ZEROe concept with the ambition to bring to market the world’s first hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft by 2035.
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