A220-500 May Serve As Stop Gap Until Arrival of Hydrogen Model

摘要

The prevailing market structure has been rattled by the Covid Event and while the manufacturers may be in the throes of stemming short term losses, there is immense pressure to be proactive in seeking solutions to the changes. Airbus, following on from the French Governments initiative to introduce a more environmentally friendly replacement for the A320 family, has announced new designs that could take advantage of improvements in hydrogen technology. The Soviet Union previously flew a hydrogen powered aircraft - the Tu-155 - in 1988 but the program was abandoned due to the political changes. The French Government has poured billions into supporting aviation during the Covid Event and has insisted that the environment should be a major consideration within the next 15 years. The Airbus designs for a possible A320 family replacement therefore encompass hydrogen as the fuel though there are many challenges. For example, to carry 180 passengers, the aircraft may need to be the size of the A321 because of the storage requirements for hydrogen although there have been notable moves of late to compress the fuel source. There is an expectation that a new aircraft will be available within 15 years (the financial crisis occurred nearly 15 years ago) and this already has been taken into account in the more proactive residual value forecasts.