Airbus CEO: Aviation Net Zero by 2050 Goals May Be at Risk

“I don’t think we are wrong to pursue net zero by 2050,” Faury said during the third annual Airbus Summit, a sustainability-focused event at the company’s headquarters in Toulouse, France. “Maybe it’s going to take a bit more time, but let’s not be shy in the ambition.”

As the head of the world’s largest commercial aircraft manufacturer, Faury’s words hold weight. Like other manufacturers, Airbus has invested in alternatives to jet fuel such as hydrogen, which it believes could be combusted into fuel to power modified gas turbines, converted to electric power via fuel cells, or even used to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) or e-fuels.

But the manufacturer in February scaled back its ZeroE program, which has been developing four hydrogen-powered aircraft since 2020. Plans to test hydrogen propulsion systems on a modified A380 have reportedly been scrapped. And according to French labor unions, Airbus’ planned first flight of a hydrogen-powered commercial model in 2035 may be delayed five to ten years.

Faury said the manufacturer is capable of building its ZeroE concepts, but “we would be wrong to be right too early.” Without the regulatory framework and clean hydrogen production to support them, he said, the aircraft are not yet viable. The Airbus chief hopes to avoid a “Concorde with hydrogen,” referring to the short-lived supersonic passenger airliner.

In an opinion piece for Aviation Week, William Todts, executive director of the clean energy think tank Transport and Environment, called the ZeroE project “smoke and mirrors.” Airbus in January also paused development of its all-electric CityAirbus NextGen air taxi. Faury on Monday said Airbus’ next single-aisle jet will be “evolutionary rather than revolutionary.”

“We are absolutely convinced that this is an energy for the future of aviation,” he said, “but it’s just more work to be done.”

Airbus’ changing priorities come amid the backdrop of an industry that may not view hydrogen as the golden ticket it was once thought to be. In February, for example, a coalition of European airline industry groups issued its “Destination 2050” road map, which predicted hydrogen-powered planes will comprise half of the intra-European flight market by 2050. A 2021 version of that blueprint projected they would capture 100 percent of it.

However, Julie Kitcher, Airbus’ chief sustainability officer, said Monday that it would be foolish for the manufacturer to abandon its sustainability initiatives.

“Climate change is both a financial and a business risk, and so we are committed to the net-zero goal,” Kitcher said. “Our partners and also policymakers have made wide-ranging commitments, and with innovation, technology is on track to achieve progress towards these goals.”

Airbus on Monday also announced a three-year partnership with the Solar Impulse Foundation, to which it will lend its aerospace technology to study “pressing global challenges” facing the climate, such as the availability of clean water.

Bertrand Piccard, chairman of Solar Impulse, is working with Airbus engineers to build a hydrogen-powered, twin-fuselage aircraft for his Climate Impulse project. The initiative aims to fly the unique model on the first hydrogen-powered, nonstop, around-the-world flight in 2028.

“My job will stop in 2028, and then your job will start to make it happen on a commercial level,” Piccard said at the Airbus Summit.

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