by Christopher Surgenor (GreenAir Online) MRO and technical aircraft services provider Lufthansa Technik has joined with Hamburg Airport in an initiative to design and test maintenance and ground processes for handling liquid hydrogen (LH2) that is expected to be used in powering future aircraft. The two-year research project, which has received funding from the city of Hamburg, will also involve the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Center for Applied Aeronautical Research (ZAL). As part of the project, a decommissioned Airbus A320 aircraft will be converted into a stationary, fully functional field laboratory equipped with LH2 infrastructure at Lufthansa Technik’s base at the airport. In the first phase, due to be completed by the end of this year, the partners will identify areas for developing and elaborating the concept for subsequent testing with the aim next year to jointly implement a pioneering demonstrator to be operational by 2022. Elsewhere in Germany, start-ups Deutsche Aircraft and H2FLY have agreed to work together on developing hydrogen fuel cell technology for commercial regional aircraft. READ MORE