Open Skies Network and Logan Partner on Hydrogen Aviation Infrastructure

Open Skies Net­work and hydro­gen ener­gy sys­tems spe­cial­ist Logan have signed a mem­o­ran­dum of under­stand­ing to devel­op infra­struc­ture for hydro­gen-pow­ered avi­a­tion across the UK’s region­al air­ports and aero­dromes.

The part­ner­ship will com­bine Open Skies Network’s expe­ri­ence in Future Flight infra­struc­ture and avi­a­tion part­ner­ships with Logan’s exper­tise in hydro­gen pro­duc­tion, stor­age, refu­elling and inte­grat­ed ener­gy sys­tems. The com­pa­nies will ini­tial­ly focus on com­mer­cial oppor­tu­ni­ties at Open Skies Network’s ear­ly adopter loca­tions in the UK.

A key focus will be gaseous hydro­gen infra­struc­ture for region­al air­ports, pri­vate aero­dromes and Gen­er­al Avi­a­tion. The approach dif­fers from many larg­er hydro­gen avi­a­tion projects that are cen­tred on major air­ports and liq­uid hydro­gen sys­tems.

The part­ners said they will inves­ti­gate infra­struc­ture that can sup­port ear­ly hydro­gen-pow­ered air­craft, includ­ing sys­tems for pro­duc­ing hydro­gen on site through renew­able-pow­ered elec­trol­y­sis. They will also explore inte­grat­ed hydro­gen micro­grids that could pro­vide fuel for air­craft while sup­port­ing elec­tric air­craft charg­ing and oth­er local ener­gy require­ments.

The com­pa­nies will work with air­ports, air­craft man­u­fac­tur­ers, reg­u­la­tors and oth­er avi­a­tion stake­hold­ers to iden­ti­fy poten­tial projects. They also plan to pur­sue pub­lic and pri­vate invest­ment, research pro­grammes and fund­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties relat­ed to hydro­gen avi­a­tion infra­struc­ture.

For region­al avi­a­tion, the avail­abil­i­ty of suit­able refu­elling infra­struc­ture is expect­ed to be an impor­tant fac­tor in the adop­tion of hydro­gen air­craft. Small­er aero­dromes may face dif­fer­ent con­straints from major air­ports, includ­ing lim­it­ed space, low­er traf­fic vol­umes and the need to jus­ti­fy invest­ment against future demand.

Open Skies Net­work said the ini­tial work could sup­port appli­ca­tions rang­ing from uncrewed air­craft and Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty to region­al pas­sen­ger ser­vices. The com­pa­nies also intend to devel­op approach­es that could even­tu­al­ly be repli­cat­ed at oth­er sites in the UK and inter­na­tion­al­ly.

Thomas Sleightholm

Thomas is a con­tent writer for eVTOL Insights, cov­er­ing all aspects of the glob­al Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty ecosys­tem. Got a sto­ry for him? Please send an email to editorial@evtolinsights.com

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