Assessment of Propulsion Architectures for Cryogenic Hydrogen ATR72- and A320-Style Aircraft

Aviation demand is expected to increase approaching 2050. Incremental improvements in efficiency are not enough to address the associated rise in emissions, or to reach a position of net-zero by 2050. Radical measures are required including the introduction of green fuels and novel technologies in the air and on the ground. Liquid hydrogen (LH2) has been identified as an attractive longer-term replacement fuel that offers zero in-flight CO2 emissions and enables a variety of propulsion architectures tailored to specific mission requirements. This study investigates the optimal mission design space for LH2-fueled aircraft using the Surrey Hydrogen Aircraft Performance Evaluator (SHAPE), a system-level modeling and analysis tool. Four propulsion architectures are assessed: hydrogen-burning turbofan and turboprop engines, and fuel cell electric systems driving either ducted fans or propellers. This analysis covers 50 to 200 passengers and mission ranges from 500 to 2,500 nautical miles (NMI), including typical regional-to-short-haul design space. Within this space, three representative mission profiles are analyzed in detail: a regional ATR72-style mission (75 PAX, 800 NMI), a short-haul A320neo-style mission (180 PAX, 2,500 NMI), and an intermediate mission (120 PAX, 1,600 NMI). Results indicate that hydrogen turbofan aircraft consistently achieve near parity in energy performance with kerosene-fueled aircraft across all missions, positioning them as viable candidates for short- to longer-range applications. In contrast, turboprop and fuel cell-powered aircraft concepts that utilize non-cryogenic electrical systems show significant performance penalties across all mission scenarios. Fuel cell aircraft concepts, particularly those using superconducting electric systems, show strong potential for lower-passenger regional operations. In the regional case, fuel cell propeller aircraft reach energy parity using technology assumptions of a fuel cell system with 2.5 kW/kg system-specific power, 1kW/L power density, and 65% peak system efficiency. For the intermediate mission of 120 PAX and 1,600 NMI; which represents over 90% of current narrowbody operations and supports 70% round-trip potential without refueling, both fuel cell ducted fan and propeller architectures become viable but under optimistic projections for fuel cell system (3 kW/kg, 1.5kW/L and 70% peak efficiency). However, even with this assumption, fuel cell-electric propulsion remains uncompetitive for larger missions. These findings support an "intermediate-first" strategy that pragmatically bridges the gap between the near-term "regional-first" deployment model adopted by the industry and the ambitious "long-range, wide-body" vision promoted by FlyZero and AIA.