Airbus Hydrogen-Powered Aircraft Reaches TRL3

In a significant milestone for the industry, Airbus has confirmed that its 100-seat ZEROe hydrogen-powered aircraft has reached Technology Readiness Level 3 (TRL3).

Airbus carried out extensive component-, system- and aircraft-level reviews of the design at the end of 2025, verifying the ZEROe concept was at technology readiness level (TRL) 3.

Speaking at the Clean Aviation Annual Forum in March 2026 in Brussels, Glenn Llewellyn, Vice President of Zero-Emission Aircraft at Airbus, highlighted the “massive opportunity” this represents “for airlines, for passengers, and for society at large.”

What’s next for the ZEROe design?

Weight reduction: exploring lighter carbonfibre materials to build fuel tanks.
Improving efficiency: trialling pumped hydrogen supply rather than a pressurised storage system.
Continued investment: Airbus is investing hundreds of millions in the best possible fuel cell stack technology and systems.

The Hydrogen in Aviation Alliance is proud to champion our member Airbus’ achievements, which demonstrate real, concrete progress towards a world with commercial hydrogen flight.

“We are convinced that this is a very close to zero-impact solution for aviation,” said Llewellyn at the Forum, underscoring the huge potential of hydrogen-powered flight.