New Zealand has launched a new Hydrogen Consortium in collaboration with Christchurch Airport, Airbus, Fortescue Future Industries (FFI), Air New Zealand, Hiringa Energy and Fabrum. The consortium will support New Zealand in the commercial deployment of green hydrogen-powered aircraft.
The next six months will see the consortium design a hydrogen ecosystem for aviation in New Zealand. The first phase, focusing on research, will be completed by the end of 2023 and will be followed by the second phase, which will focus on whether hydrogen aircraft test flights can be held in New Zealand.
“Major progress is being made,” said Justin Watson, Chief Executive, Christchurch Airport, “there have been successful test flights of zero emission aircraft already. There are new sustainable aviation fuels that can cut emissions by up to 80% and a huge amount of research is going into how to commercialise these solutions.”
The initiative will develop a vision for hydrogen aviation in New Zealand, examine the hydrogen supply chain and its challenge, assess the local aviation market’s projected hydrogen needs to 2050 and develop a pathway of policies, regulations and incentives to promote the development of hydrogen aviation.
Air New Zealand hopes that the launch of the consortium will help it achieve its two goals, to fly its first commercial demonstrator flight from 2026 and begin replacing its Q300 Turboprop fleet with low emission aircraft from 2030.
“To fly hydrogen-powered aircraft in New Zealand we will need an aviation ecosystem that can support it,” said Kiri Hannifin, Chief Sustainability Officer, Air New Zealand, “The Hydrogen Consortium brings together energy, aircraft, airline operator and airport expertise with the aim of bringing this to life.”
