Author: George Hibberd
Safe Landing Trade Union and Workers’ Assemblies Lead
Former A320 Pilot
Earlier in February, Flight Global reported:
“Airbus has delayed the service-entry target for a hydrogen-powered aircraft developed under its ZEROe project by up to 10 years and axed plans to flight-test hydrogen propulsion systems, according to a French trade union.
Blaming significant technological and infrastructure challenges for the move, the airframer nonetheless insists it remains “committed” to the eventual launch of a hydrogen-powered aircraft. However, it provides no timeline for doing so.
…
Key changes include service entry delayed by five to 10 years, a 25% reduction in the budget for ZEROe, the “termination of certain sub-projects”, and the axing of a plan to flight-test the fuel cell powertrain installed on the company’s A380 flying testbed.”
Force Ouvriere (FO), a French union representing Airbus workers, responded with a number of requests for Airbus management:
Future technologies
From a Safe Landing perspective, this announcement from Airbus is disappointing. Alongside hybrid-electric aircraft (which use a combination of battery-electric and jet engines), hydrogen and hydrogen-electric aircraft provide the most likely zero-emission alternative to fossil jet fuel-powered aircraft. The likes of Airbus with their ZEROe project and ZeroAvia have been working on these new technologies.
So-called sustainable aviation fuel will, at best, only reduce overall emissions down to 2023 levels by 2049 due to limited supply and scalability issues. Pure electric aircraft will serve only short-range flights. So, hydrogen and hydrogen-electric is a technology we need to be scaling now to provide us with zero emission flight as soon as possible. It is difficult to predict the exact configuration of aircraft that will best serve us in the future, but it is important to be trialling and testing as many technologies as possible in order for is to understand this better.
Risks and opportunities for aviation workers
FO have rightfully asked Airbus what the new plan is for future technologies. Aviation workers need to know the risks posed to their jobs if future technologies are looking less and less likely to transpire before aviation’s global carbon budget is used up. Transport & Environment predict the European aviation 1.5 degree carbon budget to be used up by as early as 2026. The global carbon budget could be completely depleted by as early as 2037.
Our industry needs to rapidly innovate to avoid our industry being legislated against as governments scramble to meet legally binding emissions reduction targets at the last minute.
Safe Landing’s vision for the future
At Safe Landing, we want to live in a world where aviation flourishes in harmony with nature, where the beauty of flying can be enjoyed by all for generations to come. This means being realistic with future technologies and focusing our energy as a sector on innovation. We know first-hand the positive impact flying has brought to humanity, connecting cultures, families and communities like never before. We want to continue to enjoy these benefits for generations to come whilst staying within nature’s boundaries.
As part of transforming our industry to be fit for the future, we need to put workers in the driving seat of change. We want to utilise the expertise workers have, acknowledging that workers have a long-term stake in the industry.
Workers’ Assemblies
We call on unions like FO to start holding deliberative, participatory decision-making processes like Workers’ Assemblies to decide how unions respond to industry leaders’ decarbonisation plans. These assemblies can also be used to produce positions on different future technologies and worker-led industrial transformation plans.
We need to give workers the information and the time they need to decide proactively how our industry transforms. We need to trust that workers will make decisions that protect both the industry and the climate. Workers’ Assemblies provide exactly the platform and process for this to happen.
If we want to transform our industry, we need to transform our decision-making processes.
If you want to learn more about Workers’ Assemblies, visit our webpage here. You can also email me at george@safe-landing.org to find out more and how to push for Workers’ Assemblies in your union or workplace.