Press release

Munich, July 7, 2026 | Airbus and MTU Aero Engines intend to deepen their collaboration by establishing a joint venture dedicated to the development and commercialization of a fully electric hydrogen fuel cell engine. This upcoming milestone follows the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by both companies at the Paris Air Show in June 2025.

By establishing a dedicated and highly agile organizational set-up, the partners aim to accelerate technology development, design, testing and certification of a revolutionary propulsion system for aviation based on a hydrogen fuel cell. The new entity will be supported by Airbus and MTU with all their competences and through various engineering and manufacturing teams from both organizations.

This non-binding agreement is subject to standard regulatory approvals and the completion of social processes at European and national levels. The new joint venture is expected to start operations in 2027.

“Our planned joint venture is the next logical step in our shared vision of a hydrogen-based propulsion concept for aviation” said Bruno Fichefeux, Head of Future Programmes at Airbus. “By pooling our respective technology and expertise into a dedicated entity, we are establishing a European powerhouse capable of transforming advanced research into industrialized, certifiable electric propulsion systems. This new company will help secure strategic sovereignty in the next generation of aviation technologies while strengthening our ability to achieve the long-term ZEROe ambition.”

“Our ambitious goal is to pave the way for a newly developed, safe, reliable and economical propulsion system that will contribute to climate-neutral aviation,” said Dr. Stefan Weber, SVP Engineering and Technology at MTU Aero Engines. “This project is a crucial milestone on our path to the first hydrogen-powered engine – and this is true European technology leadership. To that end, we want to create a company that covers the entire life cycle of fuel cell powertrains, from development and testing through certification and commercialization.”

Hydrogen has the potential to play a crucial role in substantially reducing the climate impact of aviation in the long term and transforming air transport in a way comparable to the impact of electric vehicles in the automotive sector.

The joint venture is driven by the partners’ shared ambition to create the technology leader in this field and provide the first hydrogen-based fuel cell propulsion system to a commercial aircraft. It will combine Airbus’ extensive commercial aircraft program knowledge, significant fuel cell propulsion and liquid hydrogen expertise with MTU’s multi-year fuel cell technology development and its recognized engine design, integration, validation and certification as well as maintenance expertise. 
Beyond the engine technologies, Airbus and MTU will continue to foster the emergence of a hydrogen aviation economy and the associated regulatory framework, which are also critical enablers to the advent of hydrogen-powered flight at scale.

Note to Editors

•    Hydrogen fuel cell technology generates electricity through an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, producing only water vapor as a byproduct. This would eliminate inflight emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) and contribute to reducing aviation's climate impact.
•    In March 2025, Airbus announced that it was focusing efforts on a fuel cell fully-electric propulsion system. The results of the fuel cell prototype and powertrain testing, as well as research into complementary technology such as cryogenics, supported the viability of this technology. 
•    MTU Aero Engines has also reached some important milestones over the past months: the design for the company’s Flying Fuel Cell™ has been nailed down, stack manufacturing for the demonstrator has started, the eMoSys electric motor was successfully tested for the first time, and the first test cell went into operation in Munich.
•    Beyond this, MTU Aero Engines is leading the Clean Aviation technology project HEROPS (Hydrogen-Electric Zero Emission Propulsion System). Launched in early 2024, HEROPS aims to develop innovative technologies for a climate-neutral, hydrogen-powered electric powertrain based on MTU’s Flying Fuel Cell™. 
•    You can find more information on the ongoing hydrogen projects at the websites of Airbus and MTU.