An ATR Evo aircraft concept for a hydrogen fuel cell-powered plane that Air New Zealand hopes to have in operation from 2030. Photo / Supplied
An ATR Evo aircraft concept for a hydrogen fuel cell-powered plane that Air New Zealand hopes to have in operation from 2030. Photo / Supplied
Air New Zealand is throttling up its push for zero-emissions flying and broadened its global partnership to replace its aging Q300 regional fleet.
The airline today announced Universal Hydrogen, Embraer and Heart Aerospace will join Airbus and ATR as the long-term partners to develop new aircraft.
Similar to hybrid cars,the technology combines two sources of fuel in the form of green hydrogen and an electric battery or hydrogen fuel cell. Big, pure-battery planes are too heavy at present for large numbers of passengers.
Universal Hydrogen is based in California, Embraer in Brazil and Heart Aerospace in Sweden join Airbus and ATR, both based in France, as the long-term partners to replace its 23-strong Bombardier Q300 domestic fleet with a more sustainable option from 2030. The Q300s have an average age of nearly 16 years and have 50 seats.
Air New Zealand chief sustainability officer Kiri Hannifin says working with world-leading innovators is critical to addressing the climate crisis.
“Through our partnerships with Airbus and ATR, we’ve been able to deepen our understanding of the impact green hydrogen and battery hybrid aircraft may have on our network, operations and infrastructure, as well as the opportunities and challenges of flying low and zero emissions aircraft in New Zealand.”
She said Universal Hydrogen, Embraer and Heart Aerospace will broaden the airline’s knowledge of the technologies being developed for potential future aircraft.
“This isn’t about selecting a new aircraft. It’s about growing our collective understanding to advance a new era of travel. These partners were selected because they are taking action now to progress decarbonising the aviation industry,” said Hannifin.
Air New Zealand’s long-term partners are developing green hydrogen and battery-hybrid aircraft with between 30 and 200 seats.
Air New Zealand has also teamed up with Victoria University of Wellington’s Paihu Robinson Research Institute to help the airline evaluate and validate aircraft propulsion technology as concepts develop and mature.
Universal Hydrogen pods. Air NZ hopes to start using hybrid aircraft for regional flights from 2030. Photo / Supplied
Airbus head of zero-emission ecosystem Karine Guenan said New Zealand offers an ideal test environment to develop the ecosystems necessary to support hydrogen-powered aircraft operations.
‘’The next phase will go into more detail on potential aircraft design and performance that would meet Air New Zealand’s requirements, building upon the long-standing partnership,’’ she said. Heart Aerospace is based in Gothenburg and is developing the ES-30, a regional electric airplane with a standard seating capacity of 30 passengers driven by electric motors with battery-derived energy.
The ES-30 will have a fully electric zero-emissions range of 200km, an extended range of 400km with 30 passengers and flexibility to fly up to 800km with 25 passengers. The company says it expects to deliver its first ES-30 aircraft in 2028.
Embraer is based near Sao Paulo in Brazil, has specialised in regional turboprops and jets, and says it is “ideally positioned” to bring disruptive technologies to smaller aircraft first.
‘’Air New Zealand, operator of a large, complex, and diverse regional network, is the perfect collaborator,” said Arjan Meijer, president and chief executive of Embraer Commercial Aviation. Its Energia project explores a range of sustainable concepts to carry up to 50 passengers, considering a number of energy sources, propulsion systems and airframe layouts to reduce carbon emissions by 50 per cent from 2030.
Smaller, regional aircraft are going to be the first platforms on which new fuel and propulsion systems can be introduced effectively, Embraer says.
California’s Universal Hydrogen’s modular hydrogen capsules move over the existing freight network from production directly to the airplane anywhere in the world. New Zealand has yet to develop a system to deliver green hydrogen (produced with renewable electricity) of sufficient scale to fuel an airline.
Universal Hydrogen is also working to certify a powertrain conversion kit to retrofit existing regional aircraft to fly on hydrogen.
‘‘Hydrogen is the ideal fuel for flight and will power aviation’s new golden age, where planes are powered by renewables and emit nothing but water,’' the company.
Hannifin said that while zero-emissions aircraft technology will help decarbonise the airline’s domestic network over the period to 2050, Sustainable aviation fuel (Saf) is critical in the near term, particularly for the long-haul fleet.
Saf is a “drop in” fuel that when combined with jet fuel can power the airline’s current aircraft and Air New Zealand has already imported small quantities of it from Finland-based Neste.
As part of its Mission NextGen Aircraft programme, Air New Zealand is also working with four overseas companies on plans to launch commercial zero-emissions planes from 2026. These will be much smaller aircraft with six to nine seats and would initially trial cargo or passenger flights.
