SEA, the corporation responsible for the management of Milano Linate and Milano Malpensa airports, and Airbus, the world leader in the aeronautical and aerospace industries, have signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” to explore and implement hydrogen distribution projects at Milan’s airports.
Around 2035, Airbus expects to manufacture the first hydrogen-powered aircraft. This implies that airports should improve their “readiness” and ensure that they have the infrastructure necessary to provide hydrogen to the new aircraft.
Milan’s airports have risen to the occasion and will set the standard for Europe’s new generation of planes.
The two companies intend to pool their resources to advance aviation’s decarbonisation and to define the practical requirements and opportunities that hydrogen will bring to the aviation industry. The partnership will focus on a series of feasibility studies aiming at building a hydrogen refueling hub for non-aviation purposes in the medium term and long term infrastructure for hydrogen use in aviation.
Airports will need to become hydrogen distributors and hence a reference point for the surrounding region, a task that Milano Malpensa has already embarked on, reaffirming the airport’s role as a critical driver for the entire region.
“With this agreement SEA has taken a concrete step forward in enabling important solutions for the decarbonisation of airports and the entire industry” said Armando Brunini, CEO of SEA. ‘We are going through an important transition and have chosen to be at the forefront of it, together with our partners. Innovation is in the DNA of aviation and, also thanks to Airbus, is moving towards a transformation that was unimaginable up to just a few years ago. We are proud to be part of it”.
SEA, through its Milano Malpensa and Milano Linate airports, is one of the European airports that will reach Net Zero carbon emissions by 2030, twenty years ahead of the European Green Deal’s 2050 date. SEA, as part of the European Commission-funded project “OLGA, hOlistic & Green Airports” committed to decarbonising the aviation industry, will greatly contribute to the complicated task of CO2 reduction while enhancing energy efficiency, air quality and biodiversity. A significant SEA’s strategy plan, aiming at accelerating post-pandemic recovery, places a particular emphasis on environmental and sustainability transition.
Airbus has revealed an ambitious plan to decarbonize the aviation industry, which includes the ZEROe project, which is investigating zero-emission solutions for a future aircraft. Hydrogen is one of the most promising zero-emission technologies for mitigating aviation’s climate effect, and airports are critical in facilitating the transition to a climate-neutral aviation ecosystem.
