Airbus and MTU Aero Engines have inked a deal to form a joint venture to develop what the two companies say is the world's first fully electric hydrogen fuel cell engine for commercial aircraft. The partnership is an important milestone in the development of hydrogen aircraft engines, electric aviation, zero-emission aviation, hydrogen fuel cell technology and sustainable aviation as the aviation industry continues to explore alternatives to traditional fossil fuel-powered propulsion. Airbus' experience in aircraft building and hydrogen technology, and MTU Aero Engines' experience in engine development, testing, certification and maintenance are combined in the initiative.

The agreement builds upon an earlier partnership announced at the Paris Air Show in June 2025, and forms a blueprint for a long-term plan to design, test, certify, and commercialize hydrogen-powered electric propulsion systems. The deal is still pending regulatory clearance and approval from European regulators, but the businesses hope the new joint venture will go live in 2027. The partnership aims to speed up research and industrial development and enrich the overall shift towards hydrogen aircraft engine, electric aviation, zero-emission aviation, hydrogen fuel cell technology, and sustainable aviation solutions throughout the global aviation industry.

Joint Venture brings complimentary skills together.

The planned venture will split the responsibility based on each company's technical expertise: Airbus for development and MTU Aero Engines for production. Airbus will bring its expertise in commercial aircraft, and in the development of liquid hydrogen storage systems, which will be crucial for future hydrogen-powered aircraft.

Engine integration, mechanical development, testing, regulatory certification and long-lasting system maintenance will be managed by MTU Aero Engines. The company has a broad background and experience in aircraft engine technologies and lifecycle management, and is tasked with making sure that the new propulsion platform is meeting commercial aviation safety and operational requirements.

The partners hope to speed up the commercial roll-out of hydrogen propulsion systems by leveraging their combined expertise from research and prototype testing to commercialization.

Alternative to conventional combustion is fuel cell technology.

The system will use a fuel cell to produce electricity, instead of burning aviation fuel as the traditional propulsion system for aircraft. The technology generates electricity using an electrochemical process instead of combustion of hydrogen and oxygen.

This process doesn't use fuel; during flight no carbon dioxide (CO₂) or nitrogen oxides (NOₓ) are produced. Rather, the main one produced is water vapour. This has become a growing interest of aircraft manufacturers who look for technologies that can contribute to a substantial reduction in aviation-related emissions while at the same time ensuring operational performance.

Hydrogen fuel cell systems are also different from sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) which lower lifecycle emissions but use combustion-based engines. While Airbus and MTU aren't suggesting their new engines are the sole solution for achieving zero-emission commercial aviation, they think hydrogen-powered electric propulsion may be the longer-term route to this goal.

Building on Recent Technology Demonstrations

The new venture is based on a number of years of independent research done by both companies. Airbus is developing cryogenic hydrogen storage technologies that can safely store liquid hydrogen at very low temperature which can be used in commercial aircraft.

In the meantime, MTU Aero Engines has made a solid start with the “Flying Fuel Cell” programme, after successfully completing the first tests of electric motors at an MTU facility in Munich. The successful tests highlighted key aspects of the propulsion concept and helped to build trust in hydrogen electric aircraft systems.

The partnership is anticipated to combine these research projects into a single development project of engineering, system validation, testing, certification and subsequent commercialization.

Airbus' ZEROe Strategy is supported by this.This supports the Airbus' ZEROe Strategy.

The partnership will be part of Airbus' ZEROe project, which is designed to put a zero-emission commercially viable aircraft into service by 2035. Airbus is one of the most promising energy sources it has identified that can power the future of commercial aviation without causing greenhouse gas emissions.

Industry estimates suggest that aviation contributes around 2-3% to global GHGs. Airlines and manufacturers are still investing in SAFs to reduce emissions from their fleets, but the use of hydrogen-powered propulsion is now thought of as a potential long-term solution that could revolutionize the way aircraft operate.

A fully electric hydrogen powered fuel cell engine also has the potential to diversify the technologies powering the transition to decarbonize aviation, especially for future short- and medium-haul commercial aircraft.

Creating the Foundation for Hydrogen Aviation

In addition to engine development, Airbus and MTU plan to collaborate closely with European regulators to set the standards for hydrogen-power commercial aircraft certification, flight procedures and flight safety.

However hydrogen fuel will have significantly different storage, handling and operational requirements to these conventional aviation fuels and will require completely new regulation before it can be used commercially. The joint venture is anticipated to bring technical know-how to the development of these standards, and to help to create the wider hydrogen aviation ecosystem.

Stefan Weber, Senior Vice President of Engineering and Technology at MTU Aero Engines, said of the project it was a significant step in MTU Aero Engines' hydrogen propulsion strategy. The envisioned company is aimed at the entire fuel cell powertrain development, testing, certification, commercialization and life cycle support, he said.

The joint venture is projected to start operations sometime after 2027, and will be part of a wider strategy to advance the development of next-generation propulsion technologies to enable low-emission commercial air transport in the next decade and beyond.