Airbus has partnered with London Gatwick, easyJet, and Air Products, the world’s largest hydrogen supplier, to enhance hydrogen capabilities and infrastructure in the UK, aiming to launch a hydrogen-powered aircraft by 2035.

Establishing the necessary infrastructure is crucial for enabling hydrogen flight, and this collaboration marks a significant step toward realizing this goal in the UK.

As part of Airbus’ Hydrogen Hubs at Airports initiative, the project encompasses liquid hydrogen supply and storage at the airport, refueling and ground handling of hydrogen aircraft, and exploring shorter-term hydrogen usage opportunities at London Gatwick.

Given that early hydrogen-powered aircraft will target short to medium-haul routes, London Gatwick’s role as the UK’s leading hub for these services, combined with easyJet’s expertise as a short-haul carrier, makes it an ideal site for R&D into essential support infrastructure. This partnership demonstrates a strong commitment from Airbus, London Gatwick, easyJet, and Air Products to making hydrogen-powered flight a reality by 2035.

Airbus Vice President ZEROe Project Glenn Llewellyn said: “Our licence to operate hinges on finding better ways to fly. We know hydrogen has the versatility to be an excellent fuel source for decarbonising the industry. We’ve set ambitious targets to fly on hydrogen by 2035 and this technology needs to be supported by reliable and tested infrastructure. Sharing knowledge and best practice at airports will be critical for building the right hydrogen ecosystem around the world and we look forward to working with all consortium members to develop the support for the technology and end-to-end hydrogen supply chain that will power future flight.”

Stewart Wingate, Chief Executive Officer, London Gatwick, said: “Alongside Sustainable Aviation Fuels, hydrogen stands out as having real potential to help us decarbonise Scope 3 emissions at the airport, particularly for the short haul aircraft that dominate London Gatwick’s operations. In parallel we’ve accelerated our plans and aim to be net zero for the emissions we control – Scope 1 and 2 – ten years early, by 2030. We still have a long way to go and a lot of hard work to do, but today’s exciting partnership is an important early step toward reaching our net zero ambitions.”  

David Morgan, Chief Operating Officer, easyJet, said: “Hydrogen is going to play an important role in decarbonising aviation so we need to lay the groundwork now to make that happen. The Gatwick hub is another positive signal and demonstrates the industry’s intent to both adapt and work together to reach the common goal of decarbonising aviation. Combined with support from regulators and policymakers, I’ve no doubt that projects like this will act as the building blocks to prepare UK airports for a hydrogen transition – something that will be critical to achieving our net zero ambitions.”

Suzanne Lowe, Vice President and General Manager, United Kingdom, Ireland, Israel and Italy, Air Products, said: “We’re incredibly pleased to contribute Air Products’ decades of experience producing and distributing hydrogen to this exciting project. The Hydrogen Hubs at Airports framework is an important milestone in paving the way for sustainable aviation and future proofing the UK economy. Air Products is committed to helping the UK become a global leader in low carbon hydrogen production. We look forward to collaborating with our partners and government leaders on this project and to unlock further investments in renewable hydrogen. These include our plans for a large-scale renewable hydrogen facility in Immingham.”

This partnership will complement the ongoing efforts of easyJet and Airbus with Hydrogen South West, an infrastructure ecosystem dedicated to bringing the advantages of hydrogen to the South West of England.

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