Paris (AFP)
Air Liquide, Airbus and Groupe ADP announced on Monday that they had signed a memorandum of understanding to prepare for the arrival of hydrogen in airports in 2035, as part of the development of new zero-emission aircraft, in a joint press release.
This partnership concerns the realization of engineering studies, with a view to creating the necessary infrastructures to accommodate the new aircraft, in particular to supply them with liquid hydrogen.
The three partner groups "intend to combine their respective expertise to support the decarbonisation of air transport and define the concrete needs and opportunities that hydrogen brings to the aeronautics sector", with the objective of "contributing to the emergence of a French innovative and strategic sector for carbon-free global aviation ".
Initially, a study on a representative panel of around thirty airports in the world "will make it possible to determine the different configurations of development and supply of liquid hydrogen", it is indicated.
Detailed scenarios and plans will then be drawn up for the two main Parisian airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly, in order to "define the required infrastructures, sizing and location, which must take into account all the constraints. linked on the one hand to industrial safety standards and on the other hand to those of aeronautics ".
This partnership "is an important and necessary step to prepare for the entry into service of a zero-emission aircraft by 2035", summarizes Antoine Bouvier, director of strategy at Airbus, quoted in the press release.
At the end of May, eleven projects aiming to develop an airport hydrogen sector in Ile-de-France, ranging from its storage to the refueling of future "zero emission" planes, had been selected following a call for demonstrations. interest, with the objective of "first on-site experiments from 2023".
The French state announced in June 2020 that it would devote 1.5 billion euros by 2022 to "achieve a carbon neutral aircraft in 2035".
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