Airbus unveils hydrogen powered airliner plans

The three concepts - all codenamed “ZEROe”, and all fuelled by hydrogen -include a turbofan design, a turboprop concept and a blended-wing body. "The concepts we unveil today offer the world a glimpse of our ambition to drive a bold vision for the future of zero-emission flight,” said Guillaume Faury, Airbus CEO. “I strongly believe that the use of hydrogen - both in synthetic fuels and as a primary power source for commercial aircraft - has the potential to significantly reduce aviation's climate impact.”

In a statement detailing the proposed aircraft, Airbus explained that the turbofan concept (a 120 – 200 passenger airliner) will have a range of 2,000+ nautical miles and will be powered by a modified gas-turbine engine running on hydrogen, rather than jet fuel, through combustion. The liquid hydrogen will be stored and distributed via tanks located behind the rear pressure bulkhead.

A separate turboprop design (up to 100 passengers) will also be powered by hydrogen combustion in modified gas-turbine engines. This would be capable of traveling more than 1,000 nautical miles, said the firm.