Hydrogen could play a key role in aviation decarburization in the long term, and could revolutionize air transport on par with electric vehicles in the automotive sector. To that end, Airbus' ambition is to bring hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft to the market. The Zeroe project was launched in 2020 and investigated the feasibility of two major hydrogen propulsion technologies: hydrogen combustion and hydrogen fuel cells.
In 2025, Airbus announced that hydrogen fuel cell technology has been chosen as a way to propel this future aircraft. The results of fuel cell prototypes and powertrain tests, as well as research into complementary technologies such as cryogenic temperatures, supported the viability of this technology.
