Story ID: 464
Boeing Pushes Zero-impact over Zero Emissions
By: Charles Alcock
Caption: Boeing's chief strategy officer Marc Allen sees a limited role for hydrogen propulsion in aviation's green future and won't reverse supersonic withdrawal.
Word Count: 294
Aviation’s path to a net-zero future will pass multiple waypoints, and while many view hydrogen as a key enabling technology, Boeing is building its flight plan around fleet renewal, improving operational efficiency, and boosting the availability of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). During the newsmakers breakfast on Monday at NBAA-BACE,
Marc Allen, the U.S. aerospace group’s chief strategy officer, made it clear it will not be following its European rival Airbus in looking to bring hydrogen-powered, medium-range narrowbody airliners into service by the mid-2030s.
“We have shifted our language from zero emissions to zero impact [on the environment],” Allen commented. “Hydrogen might have a role, but that might be being used on the ground to produce SAF or perhaps for direct propulsion. But how can we be sure it’s truly green hydrogen and that the net result might not be worse in terms of emissions, not just CO2 but also contrails.”
Boeing is using a data modeling tool called Cascade to assess which technologies would produce the greatest benefit in terms of reducing the environmental impact of flying. “It allows you to put in all your assumptions about the future and when you see what will really move the needle you get right into changes like continuous descents [instead of step-down approaches], fleet renewal, and SAF,” he explained.
At the same time, Boeing now has an interesting side bet on the autonomous eVTOL aircraft its Wisk Aero joint venture with Kitty Hawk is working on. Allen predicted that autonomous flight will start with small aircraft like Wisk’s planned four-seater with its 90-mile range, but this won’t become a reality until the end of this decade.
, full_html