(Alliance News) - Low-cost airline easyJet PLC and aerospace manufacturer Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC have launched a partnership to develop hydrogen engines capable of powering commercial passenger planes, they announced on Tuesday.
The objective of the H2Zero agreement is to demonstrate that hydrogen has the potential to be used in a range of aircraft from the mid-2030s onwards.
Ground tests will take place by the end of this year.
Both companies are signed up to reaching net zero for carbon emissions by 2050.
Announcing the partnership at the Farnborough International Airshow in Hampshire, easyJet Chief Executive Johan Lundgren said "radical action" is needed to address aviation's climate impact.
"The technology that emerges from this programme has the potential to power easyJet-size aircraft, which is why we will also be making a multimillion-pound investment into this programme. "In order to achieve decarbonisation at scale, progress on the development of zero-emission technology for narrow-body aircraft is crucial."
The only waste product from using hydrogen as a fuel is water.
Rolls-Royce Chief Technology & Strategy Officer Grazia Vittadini added: "H2Zero is a big step forward for Rolls-Royce and we are excited to be working with a partner that shares a desire to innovate and find new answers to aviation's biggest challenges.
"We at Rolls-Royce want to be ready to pioneer sustainability with whatever the future requires, be it hydrogen, electric power, sustainable aviation fuel or gas turbine efficiency."
easyJet is continuing to collaborate with US firm Wright Electric on the development of an electric airliner, it said.
Meanwhile, Lundgren admitted he "can't guarantee" passengers will not suffer more disruption this summer.
easyJet has introduced "a number of measures" to avoid a repeat of the chaos seen during the Easter and jubilee periods, when thousands of flights were cancelled, Lundgren said.
The summer holidays for most schools in England and Wales start this week.
Schedule reductions across the airline industry will "help" but factors "outside our control" could affect flights, Lundgren warned.
In an interview with the PA news agency at Farnborough Air Show in Hampshire, Lundgren said: "We're operating up to 1,700 flights a day. We're doing it with the level of operational performance that you would have seen in 2019.
"But having said that, we can't guarantee that there won't be things that sit outside our control that could affect our customers, as they will affect any other airlines' customers as well.
"We are absolutely focused on this. This is the key priority for us apart from the overriding objective to deliver safe operation."
Lundgren said one of the key risks to reliability is air traffic control providers imposing restrictions.
"It only takes one or two people in the tower to be sick and then you have flow restrictions coming into play," he said.
"Flow restrictions could ultimately lead to cancellations."
Asked if he is concerned some passengers could switch to rival Ryanair Holdings PLC, which has not cancelled as many flights in recent months, Lundgren replied: "Every airline has had cancellations.
"We deeply apologise for those events that took place when we had day-on-day challenges.
"But we've taken the right actions in order to correct that, and hope to continue to deliver a great operation for the rest of the summer."
easyJet shares were up 0.1% at midday in London on Tuesday, while Ryanair was flat and Rolls-Royce was up 0.2%.
By Neil Lancefield, PA Transport Correspondent
source: PA
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