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With the Net Zero 2035 project, Hamburg Airport is pursuing the ambitious goal of making its own operations CO2 emission-free in record time and reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions - i.e. the CO2 emissions caused by the airport itself - to zero. However, this can only be the beginning of an energy transition in aviation. The next step: CO2 emissions from aircraft must also be reduced to a minimum. As an airport, we also see it as our duty to work with partners from industry and science to find solutions that work not only in Hamburg.
Alternatives to today's kerosene as an energy source for aircraft require new ways of delivery and storage: in fact, there are still no generally applicable plans for how hydrogen, for example, should be delivered, stored and refueled in aviation. But to ensure that the infrastructure is ready when the first aircraft are available, we are taking care of this NOW - just like with Net Zero 2035.
Unlike today, there will be different energy sources in the future depending on the intended use. While fuels produced synthetically or from plant-based waste materials - SAF (sustainable aviation fuels) for short - are similar to kerosene in terms of handling, hydrogen as a gas or in liquid form will require completely new technologies. SAF will play a particularly important role for long-haul flights, but there will be no way around hydrogen as an energy source for medium-haul flights. But how much hydrogen will be needed in the future? How will it get to the airport and how will it be stored there? These are precisely the questions that the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Hamburg Airport have been working on. The result is a roadmap that outlines the growing demand in the coming years and describes the necessary infrastructure. For Hamburg Airport, the roadmap is a timetable for the coming years: If we want hydrogen-powered aircraft to establish themselves quickly and thus reduce CO2 emissions as quickly as possible, then we need to have this infrastructure in place before then.
For other airports, the roadmap represents a blueprint for planning their own requirements and the necessary modifications to their own infrastructure. At the same time, the roadmap also makes it clear that if we want an energy transition in aviation, then we need to ensure that the sources for the required amount of hydrogen are built up in good time.
Before the first aircraft can take off and land, other very practical questions need to be clarified. To this end, Hamburg Airport is working together with DLR, Lufthansa Technik and ZAL (the Center of Applied Aeronautical Research) in the Hydrogen Aviation Lab. Here, all maintenance and ground processes can be tested on a converted Airbus A320 - an important building block for research and development work from which the entire aviation industry can benefit.
Further information on the Hydrogen Aviation Lab can be found here: Hydrogen-Lab (lufthansa-technik.com)
The theoretical work should lead to the first practical results as early as 2026: Together with Rotterdam Airport, the first hydrogen-powered short-haul flight between the two airports will then take place. Like Hamburg Airport, Rotterdam is also working on the necessary hydrogen infrastructure. In principle, it should then be possible to fly between the two cities using hydrogen alone - and therefore with zero CO2 emissions.
For more information on the Hamburg-Rotterdam collaboration, click here: Hamburg and Rotterdam announce hydrogen flight corridor collaboration, setting sights on 2026 first flight - Hamburg Airport (hamburg-airport.de)
The plans for the major EU-funded Interreg Baltic Sea Region HyAirport project go even further. With Hamburg Airport as the initiator, 16 international partners and 24 associated organizations are working on implementing flight connections with hydrogen-powered aircraft around the Baltic Sea. Since the kick-off at the end of 2023, the partners have been working together to develop the necessary infrastructure to connect smaller airports with Hamburg as a hydrogen hub in a CO2-free way. Both the connection to Rotterdam and the BSR project involve smaller aircraft types that are powered by gaseous hydrogen.
For more information on the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) HyAirport Project, click here: Hamburg Airport on the way to becoming a hydrogen hub - Hamburg Airport (hamburg-airport.de)
Learn more about Baltic Sea Region (BSR) HyAirport Project
Aircraft manufacturer Airbus is planning to introduce its first medium-haul hydrogen-powered aircraft from 2035. These aircraft will be able to operate commercial flights over distances of up to 2,000 nautical miles (approx. 3,700 km). In contrast to the short-haul aircraft, which are due to come into service from 2026, liquid hydrogen will be used as an energy source. The preparations for this are more complex than for gaseous hydrogen.
As one of the few airports worldwide that is already well advanced in planning the necessary infrastructure, Airbus has invited Hamburg Airport to join the Airbus Hydrogen at Airports network in 2023 as the first German airport. Until the first medium-haul aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen take off, the airports in this network will help to set international standards for the climate-friendly aviation of the future.
Before the first hydrogen flights can take place, we will not lose sight of the source of our own Scope 1 emissions at the airport: our ground vehicles. While the car fleet on the premises is already being gradually converted to hydrogen and electric drives, some special vehicles such as tugs, de-icing vehicles or water trucks have so far only been diesel-powered. For the transition, these will be fueled 100 percent with synthetic fuel made from plant-based waste materials. However, this is not enough for completely CO2-free ground operation. That is why, on our behalf and with our support, companies are developing special vehicles with alternative drive systems that will be used at Hamburg Airport in future and can also be ordered by other airports.
When developing these new vehicles, we are open to new technologies, and so are our plans for the associated infrastructure. In the long term, our refueling infrastructure should be capable of refueling hydrogen-powered ground vehicles and aircraft.
Michael Penner
With its climate strategy “Net Zero 2035 – Now. For the Future”, Hamburg Airport wants to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the airport city to zero by 2035, doing without offsets – the first major airport in Germany to do so.