Aviation experts across industry and government are to form a new group, working together to make planes running on batteries and hydrogen a reality.
Launched on 20 April, the Zero Emission Flight (ZEF) Delivery Group will sit under the Jet Zero Council and strive to position the UK at the forefront of the global shift to green aviation through supporting zero emission aircraft and airport infrastructure. The group will also look at how the law needs to adapt so that sustainable flying can become a reality, as well as catapulting the latest innovations in aviation decarbonisation technology.
Current Chief Operating Officer of the Connected Places Catapult, Rachel Gardner-Poole will lead the group, bringing with her over 20 years-experience in military and commercial aviation through the Civil Aviation Authority, UK Space Agency and IBM. Gardner-Poole will lead the ZEF Delivery Group as they build on progress made through the Department for Transport’s Zero Emission Flight Infrastructure project, and Aerospace Technology Institute’s FlyZero project.
The FlyZero report, released in March, determined hydrogen, stored in a liquid state, as offering the best opportunity to eliminate aircraft tailpipe CO2 emissions. It found hydrogen-powered mid-size aircraft entering into service from 2033, along with other variants progressively joining them over the next decade, could see a cumulative global saving of more than 4Gt of CO2 by 2050, rising to 14Gt by 2060.
