Airbus: Impacts in Mexico and the Industry

Aerospace giant Airbus recently announced several delivery and sustainability plans for several countries. These plans include two development centers in the EU and the delivery of hundreds of aircraft to Mexico. 

Airbus plans to deliver 200 airplanes to Mexican airlines Volaris and Viva Aerobus in the next few years, said Ricardo Capilla, CEO of Airbus Mexico. The French OEM has a long history with both ultra-low-cost airlines. “We maintain a close relationship with our customers Viva Aerobus and Volaris, 100 percent Airbus operators, which has been fundamental to our growth in the country; Airbus now has 57 percent of Mexico’s commercial aviation market,” he told El Sol de México in an interview.

Mexico’s commercial aviation industry has seen an agile recovery, with ultra-low-cost airlines Viva Aerobus and Volaris quickly bouncing back to their pre-pandemic traffic. Viva Aerobus even reported its best passenger traffic in 15 years, as previously reported by MBN.

Airbus also announced ambitious sustainability goals through the creation of two Zero-Emission Development Centres (ZEDC) at its sites in Bremen, Germany, and in Nantes, France, said the company in a press release. Airbus is concentrating its efforts to design and develop metallic hydrogen tanks to achieve cost-competitive cryogenic tank manufacturing capabilities. The OEM expects to use these capabilities to support the successful market launch of its ZEROe, Airbus’s concept of a zero-emissions aircraft while accelerating hydrogen-propulsion technologies in the sector. 

“The design and integration of tank structures are crucial to the performance of a future hydrogen aircraft,” explains Airbus’s press release. According to the company, both ZEDCs will be fully operational by 2023 and build LH2 (final liquid hydrogen) tanks for a first flight test in 2025. 

What exactly is ZEROe?

“Airbus has the goal of developing the world’s first zero-emission commercial aircraft by 2035.” The company has also stated that hydrogen propulsion could be key to this goal. The ZEROe concept, according to Airbus, will allow it to explore a variety of configurations and hydrogen technologies that will shape the development of a zero-emission aircraft.

The use of hydrogen as a power source, and its future in the world’s energy sector, has been receiving increasing attention for the past few years. “In the EU, hydrogen is championed as a key energy resource for post-COVID-19 economic reactivation plans,” reported MBN.