Hydrogen planes: The new Concorde, minus the takeoff
- Apr 25, 2025
- 1 min read
Airbus just quietly moved the launch of its hydrogen-powered plane from 2035 to 2045. In corporate speak, that’s not a delay—it’s a polite way of pulling the plug without admitting failure. After €1.7B spent, even Airbus is starting to realize that hydrogen aviation may be a science project, not a business.
I called this a year ago, when Universal Hydrogen filed for bankruptcy after burning through $100M. That was a 20-minute or $100M crash course in hydrogen physics. Airbus just paid for the platinum edition.
Hydrogen has its place—but it's not up in the air. Low energy density, bulky storage, safety concerns, and no existing infrastructure… The list goes on.
Popcorn's out. I'm waiting for the next hydrogen aviation moonshot to quietly disappear into the clouds (ZeroAvia).
In the meantime, here’s my write-up on the Universal Hydrogen saga if you missed it:
