China Tests Hydrogen Engine for Aircraft, Claims World's First

China successfully tested a 7.5-ton unmanned cargo plane powered by an AEP100 hydrogen-fueled turboprop engine on Saturday in Zhuzhou, Hunan Province. According to a report by China Daily quoted on Monday, April 6, the developer said this achievement was the world's first test flight for a megawatt-class hydrogen-fueled turboprop flight engine.

Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) said the plane flew for 16 minutes, covering a distance of 36 kilometers at a speed of 220 kilometers per hour and an altitude of 300 meters. After completing the scheduled flight task, the plane returned safely. AECC also said the engine remained in good condition throughout the flight.

According to AECC experts, the successful test flight marks a leap from the development stage of technology to the implementation of megawatt-class hydrogen flight engine engineering developed domestically. The technology is considered to be able to encourage improvements throughout the entire industrial chain, from the production of green hydrogen in the upstream, to storage and refueling infrastructure in the middle sector, to the development of advanced equipment and new materials in the downstream.

AECC stated that this achievement shows that China has built a complete technology chain in the field of hydrogen-fueled aircraft engines, from core components to full system integration. This test is also said to prove the reliability of engineering in combining hydrogen power systems with aviation platforms.

Experts assess that the results are the foundation for the application of the hydrogen energy industry in the aviation sector in the future. The China Daily report wrote that the achievement was also called an important step in China's transition from the stage of technology exploration to engineering practice in the development of green aviation power.

They added that if the cost of producing green hydrogen continues to decline, the economic advantages and energy resilience of hydrogen-powered aviation will become more visible. In the early stages, this technology is expected to be used in low-altitude sectors such as unmanned cargo transportation and inter-island logistics, before gradually expanding to regional passenger aircraft and then to main route passenger aircraft.