March 2023
The EU-supported TULIPS project has a number of European sister projects that are working towards similar goals; making airports and aviation more sustainable. It is therefore not surprising that as H2020 green airport projects we join forces and regularly tell our story together at conferences. Such as the Passenger Terminal Expo (PTE) that took place in Amsterdam in March 2023, in Schiphol’s ‘backyard’. Together with OLGA, Stargate and ALIGHT, we organised a workshop on how we enable greener flights.
It’s nice to see that the four programmes work on the same topics, and yet all have their own unique projects and demonstrations. Because we share our insights, we gain knowledge super fast and we also learn from differences. – Denise Pronk, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
Reducing airside emissions
Last year at the PTE in Paris, we talked at length about energy and SAF. This time we focused on airport ground operations and ultrafine particles. For ground operations, all four projects focus on electrification of vehicles on airside, in order to reduce emissions. TULIPS is also looking at the energy supply of electric vehicles, for example by means of the innovative and sustainable iron flow battery we’re planning to test later this year. In Paris (OLGA) they already have more experience with hydrogen at the airport. Many of their taxis run on hydrogen for example. There is not much ground support equipment on hydrogen yet, but because the construction of infrastructure at an airport takes a long time, the airports are already investigating different tanking concepts.
Reducing ultrafine particles
Electrification also helps in reducing ultrafine particles (UFP) on the platform, important for a healthy (work) environment. In addition, each programme works on specific aspects of the UFP problem and we test different solutions. Little is known about UFP. Brussels Airport (Stargate) has taken UFP measurements as a first step. Copenhagen Airport (ALIGHT) has already taken many measurements in recent years and focuses on measures such as SAF to reduce UFP. OLGA focuses on reducing use of Auxiliary Power Units (APU’s) in order to use less fuel. Finally, Schiphol (TULIPS) is conducting tests with the use of water screens. The particles bind to the water droplets. These are innovative solutions that can complement each other in the future.
Learning from each other and strengthening each other
In addition to collaborating on content, OLGA, Stargate, ALIGHT and TULIPS are also looking for collaboration in other areas. For example, in the field of organisation and communication. We share each other’s messages on LinkedIn to have the widest possible reach. Because we can also strengthen each other in these areas.
Broader than Europe
All four programmes have broad European coverage and active cooperation with other European airports. Through international conferences such as the PTE, airports outside Europe also learn from our insights.
Coming up
Would you like to know more about our plans? Then join us in June 2023 at the Paris Air Show.