29 January 2025: This week, the Alliance for Zero-Emission Aviation (AZEA) gathered at EUROCONTROL in Brussels for its 5th General Assembly. Nearly 100 participants were in attendance.
This week’s General Assembly notably included the presentation of the Work Plan for the 2025–26 period, identifying new areas of interest as well as activities to support the rollout of hydrogen-powered and electric flights in Europe.
DG DEFIS, the leading DG of the European Commission, presented the expected outcome of an AZEA roadmap for 2025, which will be carried out by an external consultant. This roadmap will be key as it will guide the Commission on bringing zero-emission aircraft to industrial and commercial reality.
The Alliance’s Working Groups also provided updates on their ongoing activities and on the progress on their deliverables, including the recently adopted Standardisation Gap Report.
ERA is proud to be a member of this important Alliance, along with several member companies in their own right. We are committed to working together with all stakeholders to making zero-emission aviation a reality, and to enabling regional aviation to be a trailblazer of new technology.
11 June 2024: At the aerospace exhibition ILA Berlin, the Alliance for Zero-Emission Aviation (AZEA) presented a report on its vision for enabling hydrogen and electricity-powered aircraft, showing aviation’s determination to invest in new technologies with the aim to become more sustainable.
The vision sets the objective of having 36 to 68% per cent of intra-EU flights operated by such hydrogen- and electricity-powered aircraft by 2050 and how they would progressively enter and expand in the market. According to the report, the total renewable and low carbon energy required to operate those flights in 2050 (excluding SAF production) is estimated to 78 to 198TWh/y of electricity used either for the propulsion of electric aircraft or for the production of 1.2 to 2.9Mt/y hydrogen required by hydrogen aircraft, which would correspond to 1.1 to 2.8 per cent of the gross electricity generation foreseen by 2050.
The Alliance estimates that aircraft powered by hydrogen or electricity could reduce aviation CO2 emissions on intra-EU routes by 12 to 31 per cent in 2050.
On the other hand, the report acknowledges the barriers and challenges that the industry will encounter to make electric and hydrogen aircraft fly. Indeed, AZEA looks for more collaboration in the aviation ecosystem to make this vision document a reality.