FUTURED. ZAL Magazin 2025

IMPULSES & OUTLOOK
ZAL.AWARD
WINNER 2024:
HYDROGEN
AVIATION LAB
20
The A320 Hydrogen Aviation Lab is a pioneering
research project of Lufthansa Technik,
the German Aerospace Center (DLR), ZAL
Center of Applied Aeronautical Research and
Hamburg Airport. It focuses on maintenance
and ground operations of hydrogen use cases
in commercial aviation. On the occasion
of the first ZAL.award, the airport submitted
its research project and ultimately emerged
as the winner in the competition.
Congratulations on winning the first ZAL.
award, Eike. Were you surprised to win?
EIKE You can tell by the look on my face how
surprised I was. We know what a strong project
the Hydrogen Aviation Lab is, but the other entries
were also very impressive. So I was all the
more proud to be able to accept the award on
behalf of all the project partners – Lufthansa
Technik, DLR, ZAL and Hamburg Airport.
What role does HAL play in your plan to
build a hydrogen infrastructure at Hamburg
Airport?
EIKE HAL is an important key project for us. We
are working with partners on various international
projects and, thanks to HAL, we can
share our findings directly with them. This
means that the work benefits not only Hamburg
as an aviation location, but also all partners
committed to an energy transition in aviation.
And something like HAL does not exist
anywhere else in the world – it is truly unique.
What significance does HAL have on an international
level?
EIKE International partnerships are irreplaceable
for the development of a hydrogen infrastructure
at airports.
Jan Eike Blohme-Hardegen, Head of the Environment department,
Hamburg Airport, accepts the award on behalf of the Hydrogen
Aviation Lab research team.
It's actually quite simple: the aircraft that takes
off from us and lands somewhere else also has
to be refueled there in order to be able to fly
back. There are still no generally applicable