Flying Laboratory
New propulsion technology: Airbus will equip A380 with hydrogen tanks
The modified Airbus A380 with the hydrogen-powered direct combustion engine on the fuselage tail
© Airbus
The European aircraft manufacturer is concretizing its plans for a hydrogen-powered jet. With the engine manufacturer CFM there is a partner for the test operation on the basis of an Airbus A380. Testing is scheduled to begin as early as the middle of the decade.
The Airbus Group is testing an engine for its planned hydrogen aircraft. For this purpose, an Airbus A380 is to be equipped with a hydrogen tank and an additional engine, as the Dax group announced in Washington.
There Airbus announced a corresponding cooperation with the engine manufacturer CFM, which belongs to Safran from France and General Electric (GE) from the USA. The demonstration aircraft based on the A380 should be ready for take-off by the middle of the decade. By 2035, the first hydrogen-powered aircraft should take off in passenger traffic.
In order for this to succeed, Airbus and CFM want to test a hydrogen-powered direct combustion engine on the ground and in flight. Airbus plans to equip the aircraft with tanks for liquid hydrogen. In addition, a GE turbofan engine is to be mounted on the rear upper fuselage section, which will be converted to hydrogen operation.
The goal: A zero-emission aircraft by 2035
In this way, the testers should be able to monitor the emissions from the engine separately from the emissions from the regular engines under the wings. The test aircraft is powered by conventional engines.
Airbus A380 as a demonstration aircraft with the new additional engine
© Airbus
The development of the demonstrator is the most important step in an era of flying with hydrogen since the presentation of the first concepts, said Airbus Technical Director Sabine Klauke. CFM boss Gaël Méheust called the combustion of hydrogen “one of the fundamental technologies” that his company is developing and expanding. So far, CFM has supplied engines for classic medium-haul jets such as the Airbus A320neo and the Boeing 737 Max.
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Airbus had announced the construction of a hydrogen-powered passenger aircraft in September 2020. A year later, CEO Guillaume Faury predicted that hydrogen technology for aircraft would triumph. In the meantime, even previously skeptical engine manufacturers have changed their minds. Airbus is currently working with partners on the basics. The expensive development of the new aircraft itself must begin in 2027 or 2028 so that it can be used from 2035, said Faury in September 2021.
Airbus’ Glenn Llewellyn explains hydrogen combustion technology using the Airbus A380 as a test bed in the video:
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