\n<\/p>\n
“At the moment there’s a lot of hydrogen hype,” says Matt Finch, UK policy director of campaign group Transport and Environment.<\/p>\n
“A lot of people are saying ‘we can use hydrogen, we need hydrogen’. You hear it for cars, for trucks, for ships, for planes, for home heating, for chemicals.<\/p>\n
“At the moment the UK effectively produces zero green hydrogen. To fulfil all the needs everyone wants is absolutely impossible.”<\/p>\n
Mr Finch believes this means supplies of green hydrogen will probably have to be rationed for decades to come, and he says aviation may not be a priority for governments.<\/p>\n
All of this means it is likely to be decades before zero-emission hydrogen planes become an everyday reality. <\/p>\n
Even then, they are likely to be confined to short haul markets, at least to begin with. On long haul routes, synthetic sustainable fuels are widely expected to offer a more practical solution. <\/p>\n
Nevertheless, these first tests on Salisbury Plain may one day be seen as the first, tentative steps towards a technological revolution in the industry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n