Can the world's largest passenger plane become fossil-free? At least that's the hope when two giants merge with Airbus.

The giant Airbus A380 aircraft is two stories high, can accommodate up to 840 passengers and is informally called a ”superjumbo.” The few times the plane has landed at Swedish airports, it has even become news.

But being big comes with a number of drawbacks. Three years ago, Airbus announced it was ending production of the A380 due to weak demand. It was partly the high cost of fuel that prompted airlines to look for smaller models.

But now the plane is the subject of a new venture between Airbus, GE Aviation and Safran Aircraft Engines. The idea is that it will be able to test fly fueled with hydrogen as soon as 2026. However, there does not seem to be any plan to resume production. The investment in hydrogen is more about being able to take the technology further to other aircraft models.

To achieve this goal, the aircraft will retain four regular turbines and add an additional one that runs on hydrogen. However, the technical challenges are many. Combustion of hydrogen requires a higher temperature than traditional aviation fuel, which means that cooling and covering materials must also be developed to equip the aircraft.

In addition, a significantly larger tank is required than today's standard. A full 400 kilograms of liquid hydrogen will be stored in containers under the plane. The container must also be able to maintain a temperature of minus 253 degrees to keep the hydrogen in liquid form. Before it is burned, however, it must be converted into gas, which can also be complicated. But that doesn't seem to stop the three companies.

”Is hydrogen more difficult? Yes. Is it doable? Absolutely,” Mohamed Ali, chief technical officer at GE Aviation, told Financial Times.

Source: DI.SE