Rolls-Royce has successfully operated an aircraft engine using hydrogen, opening up the possibility of using green hydrogen in the aviation sector in the future.

Rolls-Royce and easyJet announced on the 30th that they have launched the world's first modern hydrogen aircraft engine and established a new aviation milestone.

This ground test was conducted as an early concept demonstrator using green hydrogen generated from wind and tidal power. This is a significant step forward demonstrating that hydrogen can be a future carbon-neutral aviation fuel, and also a key achievement showcasing Rolls-Royce and EasyJet's decarbonization strategy.

The two companies have embarked on work to demonstrate that hydrogen can safely and efficiently power civilian aircraft engines, and are already planning a second set of tests with the goal of conducting flight tests in the long term.

This test was conducted at the Boscombe Down outdoor test facility, a military aircraft test site of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), by converting Rolls-Royce’s AE 2100-A medium aircraft engine.

The green hydrogen for the test was supplied by the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) and generated using renewable energy at the hydrogen production and tidal test facility in Eday, Orkney Islands, UK.

Grant Shapps, UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), stated, “The UK is leading the global transition to zero-emission flight, and this test by Rolls-Royce and EasyJet is a significant achievement demonstrating how business innovation can change the way we live.”

He also added, “Using hydrogen produced from tidal and wind energy in Scotland’s Orkney Islands for jet engines is a true success story for the UK, serving as an exemplary case demonstrating a collaborative approach that can realize clean aircraft while creating jobs nationwide.”

Rolls-Royce CTO Grazia Vittadini said, “The success of this hydrogen test will be an important milestone.”“The partnership with EasyJet was announced in July, but it is already off to a successful start with groundbreaking achievements. The two companies are pushing the boundaries to realize the carbon neutrality potential of hydrogen, which can contribute to reshaping the future of flight,” he said.

EasyJet CEO Johan Lundgren stated, “This is a true success of the partnership. Hydrogen offers significant potential not only for EasyJet-sized aircraft but also for aircraft of various sizes, and we will continue to strive to support this groundbreaking research. Through this, we will be able to make significant progress in addressing the challenge of carbon neutrality by 2050.”

The partnership between the two companies plans a series of additional equipment tests, ranging from ground test analysis of this initial concept to large-scale ground tests of Rolls-Royce's Pearl 15 jet engine.

This partnership was triggered after the two companies joined the UN-sponsored Race to Zero campaign to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.