SAE International and EUROCAE jointly announce the publication of “H₂ Fueling Stations for Airports, in Both Gaseous and Liquid Form.” These documents serve as the first worldwide H₂ station guidelines for the aerospace industry.

SAE AIR8466, developed in collaboration with EUROCAE’s ER-034, provides the first step in defining performance targets and safety limits to enable H₂ as an accessible fuel for various commercial aircrafts. Considering the wide range of aircraft with H₂ storage sizes, SAE AIR8466 and EUROCAE ER-034 also define fueling categories for H₂ eVTOLs, Regional, Narrow body and Widebody (including Lighter than Air).

“SAE AIR8466 sets the stage for H₂ fueling at airports by closing a major aerospace industry gap,” said Jesse Schneider (ZEV Station) chair of the SAE AE-5CH H₂ Airport Taskgroup.

“This joint guideline marks a significant step forward for the aviation industry’s transition to H₂,” said Anna von Groote, Director General of EUROCAE. “Together with SAE International, we have created a foundational framework that addresses safety, performance, and the practical needs of airports worldwide to integrate H₂ as a fuel option. This collaboration exemplifies how industry-wide efforts can lead to impactful changes, supporting the industry's commitment to cleaner aviation—and it is just the first of many steps we will take together to make H₂ accessible across the sector.”

“There are plenty of airport standards for fueling jet A-1 fuel, but there haven’t been any standardization efforts yet for H₂ stations,” Schneider continued.  “It was quite a coordination between international aircraft OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, regulators and H₂ companies to find consensus on an airport H₂ fueling station guideline, but we did it. This is a guidebook for H₂ safety and fueling station definitions. The SAE AIR8466/ EUROCAE ER-034 gives the industry a starting point for fueling stations for H₂ aircraft in gaseous and liquid form.”

Key highlights of this guideline document include:

• Range of estimated H₂ storage onboard based on aircraft type and use case.
• Categorization of H₂ fueling speeds (flow rates in kg/minute), based on airline turnaround time, which gives a first definition of coupling size categories.
• Fueling process parameter definitions for gaseous H₂ and liquid H₂ fueling of aircraft at airports and mobile and stationary station use cases.
• High-level H₂ properties including safety definitions.