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IATA’s Walsh says industry should know by 2030 if hydrogen planes are viable
November 11th 2021
The industry will have greater visibility about the viability of hydrogen-powered aircraft by the end of the decade, according to International Air Transport Association (IATA) director-general, Willie Walsh. Read More » Walsh told a CAPA Live conference yesterday the real focus will be on sustainable fuels. He said European manufacturer, Airbus, was upbeat about the hydrogen concept and seemed more positive than it had been 12 months ago. However, Walsh believes the technology still faces many hurdles and noted Airbus rival, Boeing, was less positive about hydrogen after investigating the technology. “And then you have a number of smaller companies looking at the commuter type aircraft and producing hydrogen power,’’ he said. “So I think by 2030, we are going to have greater visibility around the potential for what would be a step change in technology such as hydrogen.” Walsh said a critical issue was how the hydrogen was produced. “There's no point in claiming hydrogen is the solution if it is not being produced in a green way. So there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. But the good thing is, there is great commitment now on the part of the manufacturers to make this change a reality. I think by 2030 we should be able to see whether that's going to happen,” he said. On sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), Walsh was optimistic the industry will do better than the 2% target it has set itself to achieve by 2025. Airlines had tested SAF as a drop-in fuel and there was plenty of feed stock that could create “credible, real sustainable aviation fuels”, he said. “What we need to see is greater supply,’’ he said. “This is chicken and egg. People have argued the industry needed to demonstrate its willingness to use it. We have done that now. What we need to see is fuel companies providing it [SAF] at scale. Once they start providing it at scale, then it [the industry] will deal with the other critical issue, which is price.”
