A ground-breaking airside hydrogen refueling trial, led by easyJet, and supported by Jacobs and cross-industry partners, has been successfully completed at Bristol Airport – the first airport trial of its kind at a major U.K. airport, the Jacobs announced.
Hydrogen was used to refuel and power ground support equipment (GSE) – specifically, baggage tugs (or tractors) – servicing easyJet passenger aircraft. Conducted alongside the airline’s daily operations, the trial demonstrates that the gas can be safely and reliably used to refuel ground equipment in the busy, live airport environment.
The trial, dubbed Project Acorn, was under development for over a year and involved Jacobs and many other leading organizations from across aviation, engineering, logistics and academia, including Cranfield Aerospace Solutions, Cranfield University, Connected Places Catapult (CPC), DHL Supply Chain, Fuel Cell Systems, the IAAPS research institute, Mulag and TCR.
The group intends to use the outputs of the trial to help develop industry best practice standards, provide guidance to airports, airlines, local authorities and regulators on required infrastructure changes, and support the development of a regulatory framework for hydrogen’s use on an airfield – standards which, due to hydrogen’s nascency in aviation, do not currently exist.
Photo : Cranfield University
Press release https://rb.gy/w5ihws
