The pandemic and its halting of commercial air travel for the better part of a year may have provided ample downtime at major airports such as London Heathrow, Delhi's Indira Gandhi, Singapore's Changi, and New York JFK. However, it is challenging to run pilot trials for new technology and innovation at heavily congested and slot-regulated airports. Enter the role of regional airports, which may become centers for sustainable innovations as the industry embarks in earnest on its quest for decarbonization.

Regional air travel will shift first

Short-haul and regional air travel will undoubtedly be where novel propulsion architecture will have the most impact before major technological leaps are made. Ranging from eVTOLs to the Dash 8-400 hydrogen fuel-cell retrofit that ZeroAvia is developing, zero-emissions aircraft will first serve shorter-range markets.

Airbus may be using an A380 as a hydrogen testbed, but the hydrogen-powered aircraft the OEM brings to market by 2035 (if the timeline holds) will be something for a different mission objective. But what about regional airports? How will they help drive the industry's sustainability agenda?

Speaking at the Sustainable Aviation Futures Congress in Amsterdam last week, the Director of Communications and Sustainability at AGS Airports which operates Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Southampton airports, Brian McClean, stated his airports face unique challenges but also unique opportunities. Mr McClean said,

"At Glasgow we have got everything from the Twin Otter through to the A380, so we are going to have to cater for hydrogen-electric and SAF. This is where we are trying to figure out and work with our airline partners where they are on their sustainability journey, what we need to do to right-size our infrastructure."

Space for solar farm

AGS Airports has lowered its carbon footprint by 50% over the last three years. At Glasgow, the operator is developing a 30-acre onsite, ground-mounted solar farm that will provide Glasgow Airport with enough power for the airport campus but also to support neighboring businesses. At the time of the launch of the project earlier this year, Derek Provan, Chief Executive Officer of AGS Airports, stated,

“There’s a real opportunity for AGS to become a testbed for hydrogen and electric flight and the solar farm gives us the ability to future-proof for an increase in electricity demand (...) due to the electrification of operational vehicles, taxis, rental cars, and we will also launch a green car scheme to support our staff to switch to electric vehicles. All of this will require electric vehicle charging infrastructure. We need to anticipate these changes and the steps we are taking today will ensure we can meet both the demands of the future and our net zero targets."

Looking to airport ecosystems to diversify revenue

The solar farm will be developed in collaboration with Ikigai Energy, a branch of venture capital firm Ikigai Capital. One of the firm's co-founders, Helena Anderson, was also in attendance in Amsterdam last week. She believes that sustainability and decarbonization are not a weight on the business for airports but an opportunity to diversify revenue streams while securing the independence of energy supply - something that has become increasingly acute given the current geopolitical situation.

"Glasgow is a perfect airport in the UK because of its Island routes to trial hydrogen and potentially electric as well. But that also means that they can be a fuel supplier in the short term for renewable power or power-to-electrolyzers. Or work with, for example, waste treatment facilities that are on the boundaries of these airports, to produce hydrogen from bio methane or direct from sludge. So you're looking at the ecosystem around it, and you are sharing the economic benefits of being a producer."

The initial volumes of hydrogen generated by such a model may be minuscule in terms of what is needed, for instance, for Power-to-Liquid SAF, as the industry evolves, so will the demand, and airports can then partner to scale up production. And this is where smaller airports have a leg up on the likes of Heathrow or Schiphol. In the words of Anderson,

"That's where we need to go with regional airports which have the space, because that's obviously key to be able to create these sorts of commercial models."

Do larger operations have more financial leeway?

Meanwhile, Associate Professor in Sustainable Aviation at the University of West London, Anil Padhra, is not entirely certain it will be down to the more spacious operations of regional airports. He leaves the door open for the possibility that the financial capacity of the larger airports may give them an upper hand in the net-zero race. Also speaking at the Sustainable Aviation Futures Conference, Mr. Padhra said,

"The paradox here is that if you're a small regional airport, you have enough to be dynamic and to do tests and trials. Your operations are much simpler. Usually, you're flying just a handful of aircraft types. But you don't have the financial clout to be able to do the infrastructure investment that's required. And then you look at the big hubs - Amsterdam, Schiphol, Heathrow, Frankfurt, etc., which are much, much more congested. There's a lot of diversity in the operation. But they have the money to be able to do it. So it's a really interesting question, as to who the drivers of change will be here."

Meanwhile, Helena Anderson raises a word of caution when it comes to being too near-sighted, moving too hastily, and then being left with obsolete infrastructure down the line as various technologies mature.

"One thing that is really important to focus on is future-proofing. Because right now we're talking about, as an example, hydrogen as gas used in sub-20 seater planes at regional airports, and that is not the future for serious commercial aviation. So we are making decisions about infrastructure investment now, and it has to be able to be adapted for that transformation over the next 15 years."

What is your take on which airports will lead the way for aviation's transition beyond carbon? The regional airports with more room to maneuver, or the larger hubs with the finances to back infrastructure development? Leave a comment below and join in the conversation.