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Aviation & AerospaceEmerging

Aviation's quiet pivot to hydrogen ground operations

Surfaced by the GAPTIQ engineMay 9, 2026 · 5 min read

The first real hydrogen demand in aviation isn't in the engines. It's in the tugs, ground power units and apron vehicles that have to come off diesel a decade before any hydrogen aircraft flies. No supplier, no standard yet.

The call, up front. Hydrogen-powered flight is a 2040 story. Hydrogen-powered ground operations are a now story. The first captive (locked-in) hydrogen demand in aviation is forming at the airport perimeter: the tugs, ground power units and apron vehicles (the apron is the parking and servicing area beside the terminal) that have to come off diesel a decade before any hydrogen aircraft enters service. There is no dominant supplier and no refuelling standard yet. The gap is the apron-side hydrogen infrastructure, and the standard that locks it.

$19.7BAirport ground-support-equipment (GSE) market by 2035: the captive fleet forced off diesel
2030Schiphol's target for fully emission-free ground ops: a decade before hydrogen aircraft
80%Of US ground-support fleets still run primarily on fossil fuel: the demand base is unconverted

The gap

The aircraft is the distraction. The demand that’s real today is on the apron, where battery-electric works but strains the grid and hydrogen refuels in minutes. Whoever sets the refuelling standard owns the beachhead (the first foothold to build out from).

Exhibit 1The base is still diesel, but two-thirds of airports are already buying their way off it
80%
25%
65%
70%
US GSE fleets still primarily fossilUS GSE fleets exclusively fossilAirports running ≥1 electric GSEAirports planning more electric GSE
Ground fleets are still overwhelmingly diesel, yet ~two-thirds of US airports already run electric ground equipment and ~70% plan to add more. That captive zero-emission demand is what hydrogen (fast-refuelling where batteries are slow) competes to serve.
So what

The beachhead isn't the aircraft, it's the apron. Standardize hydrogen refuelling for ground equipment now and you own the infrastructure and the airport relationships long before the aircraft conversation matters.

Source: Nature Communications, 2026 (modelled across 300+ US airports, 2024 data)

Two measured bases, same study: the first two bars are shares of US ground-support-equipment fleets; the last two are shares of US airports. Peak electrification load reaches ~20 MW at the largest hubs: the grid pressure that makes hydrogen attractive against battery GSE. No EU regulation mandates zero-emission GSE; the 2030 deadlines are airport-set (e.g. Schiphol), not statutory.

Exhibit 2The opening is the refuelling standard, not the aircraft
Zero-emission airport ground operations
Hydrogen aircraftdistant
A 2040 timeline, not the near-term demand
Battery-electric GSEscaling
Works, but grid load peaks ~20 MW at large hubs
Apron-side hydrogen refuelling + standardTHE OPENING
Fast refuel, no dominant supplier yet

Source: GAPTIQ engine: challenge decomposition

Exhibit 3Pilot projects have already become daily operations
  1. Apr 2023WEF Target True Zero: 'several billion' needed just to electrify ground handling
  2. Apr 2024easyJet 'Project Acorn' at Bristol: first airside hydrogen refuelling of a baggage tractor
  3. Apr 2025Exeter runs the world-first full hydrogen-supported aircraft turnaround (servicing a plane between flights)
  4. Sep 2025Schiphol puts a hydrogen fuel-cell tow tractor into daily operations (EU TULIPS)

Source: WEF; Bristol Airport / easyJet; Airside International; Schiphol / TULIPS

The move

The first mover here isn’t an aircraft OEM (the plane maker), it’s whoever standardizes apron-side hydrogen: the refuelling interface, the safety case, and the green-hydrogen offtake (a committed deal to buy the fuel) for ground fleets. A 17-tonne fuel-cell tractor already runs up to 90 pushbacks a day (towing a parked plane back from the gate) at Schiphol on a single fast fill. The demand is captive, the fleet is still diesel, and no standard has been set. That gap closes once: back the standard, not another pilot project.

Source: A first at Schiphol: pilot with hydrogen-powered vehicles in daily operations, Royal Schiphol Group, September 2025. Surfaced by the GAPTIQ engine.

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Marius Suteu

Founder & principal analyst · Dankaro Solutions

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