Exeter Airport Trial Confirms Safety of Hydrogen for Ground Operations

Exeter Airport (under the jurisdiction of Regional and City Airports) took the lead in launching the Zero Carbon Turn project, collaborating with Cranfield University, TUI, ULEMCo, Boeing, and MULAG, among others. With the support of the Civil Aviation Authority's Hydrogen Challenge Sandbox program, they conducted on-site tests of three types of hydrogen-powered ground support equipment at the airport, completing a real transit operation for TUI's Boeing 737. The project aims to verify the operational performance of hydrogen equipment in a real airport environment, accumulate operational experience, safety basis, and empirical data, and help the aviation industry achieve net-zero goals.

This trial successfully deployed hydrogen internal combustion traction vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell baggage traction vehicles, and hydrogen diesel hybrid ground power units (GPU). This set a number of industry firsts in the UK: including the first simultaneous operation of multiple hydrogen-powered ground equipment at a UK airport, the first use of hydrogen GPU to power commercial aircraft, the first use of hydrogen aircraft traction vehicles to serve commercial airliners, the first application of hydrogen diesel hybrid power equipment, and the first use of green hydrogen at a UK airport. Cranfield University has released a related technical report, summarizing the results, experiences, and future directions.

The project participants stated that regional airports are ideal test grounds for hydrogen aviation technology. Later this month, Exeter Airport will jointly conduct a new round of trials with Cranfield University and ULEMCo, simulating aircraft transit in winter conditions to further verify the performance of the hydrogen system in actual conditions, and laying a foundation for the wider application of hydrogen in the UK aviation industry.