Loganair expects new hydrogen engines for its aircraft
Loganair has confirmed plans to use hydrogen engines, as opposed to hybrid-electric models, as part of its strategy to reduce carbon emissions.
The airline’s first adapted planes are hoped to service Barra Beach in the early 2030s.
This update comes four months after the company signed a memorandum of understanding with the aviation engineers ZeroAvia to adapt its current fleet to use hydrogen-electric engines.
Loganair chief executive Luke Farajallah said this new hydrogen plan would be quicker and easier to make the changes required, compared to the alternative of hybrid-electric.
ZeroAvia understood the “art of the possible,” Mr Farajallah told The Scotsman.
“Bringing a new aircraft to market with a new engine is going to be much harder,” the Loganair chief said.
“I think it’s more likely the engine space will be filled first. So, equipping a conventional aircraft with a new engine is more likely than bringing a new aircraft on line with a new engine as well.”
He also said the aviation firm was “smart and agile”.
And he said its hydrogen engine development was quickly racing past others of its kind.
Mr Farajallah : “They are moving so quickly and have got such a grip on the subject. When you talk to them, they really understand the art of the possible.”
It was also possible, Mr Farajallah said, to link up with the Scottish government to make the plans a reality for island communities.
Barra Beach, in the Outer Hebrides, has been ear-marked as the first location where a solely hydrogen-fuelled aircraft could make a journey to under the Loganair proposals.
This is hoped to happen in the next five years, although Mr Farajallah admitted it would be a “challenge” given the lack of infrastructure.
The alternative plan, for hybrid-electric planes, had been put forward through an “exclusive partnership” with Swedish company Heart Aerospace.
The plan was to have Heart's hybrid-electric ES-30 in use on the network by the end of the decade.
The first prototype is scheduled to fly in the US later this year.