Researchers at the Technical University of Delft report that in May 2026 they carried out the very first taxi tests with a hydrogen aircraft at an operational airport in the Netherlands.
“The ground tests at Rotterdam The Hague Airport, including refuelling, tests of the aircraft’s propulsion system and the first taxi run, provide essential experience for the development of hydrogen infrastructure at airports and, of course, for the hydrogen technology that AeroDelft is applying in their aircraft,” said the university in a press release.
The Delft-based student team, AeroDelft, is designing and building a one-seater aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen.
Team manager Isha Moharir said: “We carried out various ground tests with gaseous hydrogen; for instance, we were able to refuel with hydrogen at the airport, test our aircraft’s propulsion system and, for the first time, taxi the aircraft at an operational airport.” The ground tests form part of a wider project involving partners Rotterdam The Hague Airport, Air Products and TU Delft, coordinated by the Rotterdam The Hague Innovation Airport Foundation (RHIA), aimed at establishing and testing a hydrogen value chain at the airport.
According to Moharir: “We have a step-by-step approach. We have already carried out several tests. Initially, these focused mainly on the various subsystems. Last year, we successfully tested our entire powertrain running on liquid hydrogen in a laboratory setting. Now we have been able to test the propulsion system in a real aircraft at a real airport. This time we worked with gaseous hydrogen, because that’s a more developed technology at the moment. That is a major step in scaling up the technology.”
Together with partners, including Research Test Pilots Alexander in ’t Veld and Hans Mulder and their team from the TU Delft Flight Test Laboratory, based at RTHA in Fieldlab Next Aviation, the team has carried out risk analyses and drawn up an operational taxi test plan, enabling the team to conduct the tests safely at the airport.
AeroDelft’s aim is to have the aircraft flying on liquid hydrogen within a few years. The next step for the team is to work on a safe, suitable storage tank and distribution system for liquid hydrogen in the aircraft. The current aircraft is expected to remain airborne for 40 minutes on a full tank of gaseous hydrogen. As the energy density of liquid hydrogen is much higher, the aircraft is expected to remain airborne for two hours on liquid hydrogen in a few years’ time.
For more information
https://www.tudelft.nl/en/2026/lr/successful-taxi-test-with-aerodelft-hydrogen-aircraft-at-rotterdam-the-hague-airport#&gid=1&pid=1
(Image: TUDelft)