from Christian Lutz am 12.01.2022
Wikimedia CommonsLow-cost airline EasyJet buys hydrogen planes: You can fly here
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Easyjet wants to be the first major airline to use hydrogen jets in commercial operations. The first flights are scheduled to take off in 2030, thereby reducing the carbon footprint in aviation.
To realize the ambitious project, Easyjet is working with Cranfield Aerospace Solutions, a spin-off from Cranfield University in Herfordshire, England. Like the Welsh Magazine Wales Online suspected, it could then be quite possible for passengers departing from airports such as Manchester, Bristol, Edinburgh or Leeds to make the trip in a hydrogen aircraft. The Cranfield company is backed by the CAA and the government, which pumped in the equivalent of around 8.9 million euros for the development of the technology, the magazine further reports.
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Initially only feasible over a very short distance, but researchers are hoping for more
As early as 2025, five years before the realization of the ambitious Easyjet project, the airline Loganair plans to use a smaller version of Cranfield’s hydrogen aircraft. In Scotland, Loganair operates the world’s shortest scheduled flight between the Orkney Islands of Westray and Papa-Westray, with a flight duration of just 90 seconds. Other smaller airlines from Denmark, Boston, USA and Ireland are partners and interested in this project.
However, easyjet remains the only international airline that intends to launch scheduled flights with a hydrogen aircraft from Cranfield. The aim is to initially use the new type of aircraft on medium-haul routes from British airports.
Hydrogen technology in aviation makes perfect sense apart from zero emissions. This eliminates the time-consuming task of charging a battery; the duration of a refueling process is roughly the same as refueling with conventional fuels. Another advantage of hydrogen is the significantly lower price compared to kerosene or synfuels.
Cranfield Aerospace is currently working on a nine-seater Britten-Norman aircraft in which to test hydrogen propulsion. At the heart of the system are fuel cells, which convert the hydrogen carried during the flight into electricity that drives the electric motors of the engines – very similar to fuel cell cars such as the Toyota Mirai. The small aircraft should achieve a flight duration of 60 minutes with a tank filling of hydrogen and have a further 45 minutes in reserve. The developers assume that in 2030 significantly longer flights with a flight duration of up to four hours will be possible. In addition to the Cranfield team, pilots, engineers and maintenance technicians from Easyjet are also working on the research and development of the hydrogen engine.
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Project FressonThis is what the prototype of Cranfield’s hydrogen plane should look like.
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