Rolls-Royce simulates flight with a 100% hydrogen engine

The Rolls-Royce hydrogen programme, announced with easyJet in 2022 and until then confined to ground testing, has completed a fully simulated flight cycle with an aero gas turbine running on 100% hydrogen, covering take-off, cruise and landing. The announcement is dated 14 August 2026 and came from TCS, which joined the programme in 2024.

The certification timeline is missing. In a statement dated 19 December 2024, after the first international workshop on the subject, attended by the FAA, the UK CAA and the JCAB, EASA recorded that aviation has no in-service experience with hydrogen aircraft because they have not yet been developed, and that a new certification approach has to be built.

A validated test and a certification basis are different things. With no airworthiness specification published there is no entry-into-service date, and with no date there is no contracting of fuel, airport infrastructure or aircraft delivery. Capital stays in development, without revenue.

The clock on hydrogen in aviation starts when the certification basis is published.