The vision for zero-emission aviation in Europe

The Alliance for Zero-Emission Aviation (AZEA) supported by EUROCONTROL recently launched its vision on enabling the operation of hydrogen-powered and electric flights in Europe! The vision sets an ambitious objective to have 36 to 68% of intra-EU flights operated by these new aircraft configurations by 2050 and underlines the aviation ecosystem's determination to become more climate-friendly and to invest in the technologies of the future.

"AZEA's Vision document has demonstrated the ecosystem's broad support to enable novel aircraft propulsion technologies" says the European Commission's Director-General for Defense Industry and Space Timo Pesonen.

"The next step will be to provide a path towards electric and hydrogen-powered flights in the form of a roadmap, identifying actions and responsibilities in order to foster a coherent implementation of all actions required by the different public and private stakeholders."

"Ranging from aircraft manufacturers to energy providers, airports and airlines, AZEA's diverse membership has shown its commitment to work together and find common ground to tackle the next challenge of delivering a roadmap for the effective deployment of electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft." he said.

Already today, manufacturers across Europe are developing aircrafts or powertrains using electricity and hydrogen as novel energy sources. To enable the operation and use of these technological innovations, joint action needs to be taken. The AZEA vision illustrates the various challenges to make electric and hydrogen flight a reality, and the need for collaboration across the aviation ecosystem. It identifies barriers and challenges to be addressed through coherent actions by the members of the ecosystem related to aircraft production and certification, aerodromes, airspace, regulation and standardisation.

The vision describes how hydrogen-powered and electric aircraft would progressively penetrate the market. It identifies the total renewable and low carbon energy required to operate those flights in 2050 (not including the energy required for producing Sustainable Aviation Fuel), namely 78 to 198 TWh/y of electricity for aircraft propulsion and hydrogen production, and 1.2 to 2.9 Mt/y of hydrogen. It confirms the capacity of aircraft powered with electric or hydrogen to reduce aviation CO₂ emissions on intra-EU routes by up to 31% in 2050.

The document builds upon the ongoing work undertaken by AZEA's six working groups with EUROCONTROL leading the working group on the integration of electric, hybrid electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft into the European network. Other working groups analyse the entry-into- service of novel aircraft, their corresponding energy needs and supply, the adaptation of airport infrastructure, regulatory requirements, as well as incentives to accelerate the transition.

EUROCONTROL has worked closely with the Alliance to ensure the forecasts in the vision are aligned as much as possible with EUROCONTROL's air traffic forecasts and will continue to support the Alliance with impact assessments on the introduction of zero-emission aircraft on the European network and airports.