The landmark agreement is expected to be ‘Europe’s first’ with eyes on creating a 100-metre-long hydrogen pipeline that will run alongside the ZeroAvia hangar at the Cotswold Airport in the UK.

With this development, a suitable hydrogen refuelling infrastructure will be in place in order to establish hydrogen technologies at the airport leading to further innovation within the aviation industry.

Running alongside the innovative hydrogen pipeline, Shell will additionally build two commercial-scale mobile refuellers for use at ZeroAvia’s research and development site in Hollister, California.

At ZeroAvia’s test facility in Hollister, Shell will also provide compressed, low-carbon hydrogen supply to the facility and other locations in the Western US.

Shell and ZeroAvia are also expected to explore the creation of liquid hydrogen refuellers for airports.

Oliver Bishop, General Manager of Hydrogen at Shell, said, “Shell recognises the aviation sector has unique challenges in decarbonization and needs practical and scalable net-zero solutions.

“We believe ZeroAvia’s technology is a viable option, and this agreement will allow us to demonstrate successful provision of low-carbon hydrogen supply while supporting development of codes, standards, and refuelling protocols for hydrogen-powered aviation.”

Arnab Chatterjee, Vice-President of Infrastructure at ZeroAvia, said, “These milestone announcements represent significant hydrogen infrastructure advancement for ZeroAvia and the industry.

“Hydrogen-electric aviation is the only practical, holistic, and economically attractive solution to aviation’s growing climate change impact.

“Fuel provision needs to be economical and convenient for airlines to achieve operational cost benefits and ZeroAvia is leading these pioneering infrastructure developments together with leading partners like Shell.”