Air Liquide and Groupe ADP Announce Their Ambition to Create the First Joint Venture to Facilitate the Development of Hydrogen Infrastructure at Airports

June 15, 2022 02:48 AM Eastern Daylight Time PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

With this ambition of creating the first engineering joint venture dedicated to accompanying airports in their project to integrate hydrogen in their infrastructure, Air Liquide (Paris) and Groupe ADP are strengthening their collaboration. This announcement follows a memorandum of understanding signed in 2021 to carry out feasibility studies to accompany the arrival of hydrogen-powered aircraft. This partnership project demonstrates the Groups' shared ambition to act now to pave the way for decarbonized air transport worldwide.

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The purpose of this 50:50 joint venture will be to provide airports in France and across the world with the engineering and services they will need in their transition to hydrogen. As the first hydrogen-powered commercial aircrafts are expected by 2035, airports need to start reconsidering their infrastructure as of today. In particular, they must look at how liquid hydrogen will be supplied and how it can also serve other ground mobility usages, notably heavy-duty mobility or light ground support equipment.

The services provided will allow airports to meet all the challenges they will face to integrate hydrogen, including:

• Estimated volumes of hydrogen required over time;

• The optimal hydrogen supply chain based on the airport's specific characteristics and location;

• Scope and pre-installation work for the hydrogen infrastructure required at the airport;

• Preliminary safety studies;

• Cost studies and investment road maps;

• Carbon impact assessments...

In 2021, Air Liquide and Groupe ADP initiated a first collaboration, together with Airbus, to carry out a year-long study into the configurations of 30 airports worldwide, with a particular focus on Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Preliminary studies confirmed hydrogen's potential to decarbonize aviation, identifying several production and supply chain patterns that can be integrated in airport infrastructures. Thanks to this cooperation, Air Liquide and Groupe ADP have developed unique expertise in the infrastructure sizing and pre-implementation phases that will be required at airports for this transformation.

Air Liquide will bring to the joint venture its expertise in hydrogen, from production through electrolysis, liquefaction, storage to the distribution of hydrogen to aircraft. Groupe ADP will contribute its expertise in airport engineering and knowhow in airport operations.

Matthieu Giard, Vice President, member of the Air Liquide Executive Committee notably supervising hydrogen activities, said: "Hydrogen is necessary to tackle the challenge of the energy transition. Studies carried out with Groupe ADP over the last year have confirmed hydrogen can have a major contribution to decarbonize the airport sector. Airports have to be ready for hydrogen-powered aircrafts by 2035, and to foster the emergence of a hydrogen mobility ecosystem at large. This is why now is the time to work on adapting infrastructures. Air Liquide and Groupe ADP therefore project to create the first joint venture specialized in this field, building on our initial collaboration and pooling the complementary expertise of our two Groups. In line with our commitments, our ambition is to actively contribute to the emergence of a low-carbon society."

Edward Arkwright, Groupe ADP Deputy Chief Executive Officer, said: "Having worked together with Air Liquide to produce studies over the past year, this joint venture was a logical next step. With it, we expect to have the first ground-based hydrogen technology use cases in place at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly airports in 2023. Our collaboration with Air Liquide is a long-term one and is based on the complementarity of our respective expertises: the hydrogen supply chain for Air Liquide and airport infrastructure and operations for Groupe ADP."

About Air Liquide

A world leader in gases, technologies and services for Industry and Health, Air Liquide is present in 75 countries with approximately 66,400 employees and serves more than 3.8 million customers and patients. Oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are essential small molecules for life, matter and energy. They embody Air Liquide's scientific territory and have been at the core of the company's activities since its creation in 1902.

Taking action today while preparing the future is at the heart of Air Liquide's strategy. With ADVANCE, its strategic plan for 2025, Air Liquide is targeting a global performance, combining financial and extra-financial dimensions. Positioned on new markets, the Group benefits from major assets such as its business model combining resilience and strength, its ability to innovate and its technological expertise. The Group develops solutions contributing to climate and the energy transition—particularly with hydrogen—and takes action to progress in areas of healthcare, digital and high technologies.

Air Liquide's revenue amounted to more than 23 billion euros in 2021. Air Liquide is listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange (compartment A) and belongs to the CAC 40, CAC 40 ESG, EURO STOXX 50 and FTSE4Good indexes.

About Groupe ADP

Groupe ADP develops and manages airports, including Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly and Paris-Le Bourget. In 2021, the group handled through its brand Paris Aéroport more than 41.9 million passengers and 2.1 million metric tons of freight and mail at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly, and more than 118.1 million passengers in airports abroad. Boasting an exceptional geographic location and a major catchment area, the Group is pursuing its strategy of adapting and modernizing its terminal facilities and upgrading quality of services; the group also intends to develop its retail and real estate businesses. In 2021, group revenue stood at €2,777 million and net income at -€248 million

Registered office: 1, rue de France, 93 290 Tremblay-en-France. Aéroports de Paris is a public limited company (Société Anonyme) with share capital of €296,881,806. Registered in the Bobigny Trade and Company Register under no. 552 016 628.

1 The creation of the joint venture between Air Liquide and Groupe ADP remains subject to the finalization of the appropriate contractual documentation and, among other things and as necessary, to obtaining the approval from the relevant competition authorities.