The Financial Post reports in its Monday edition that hydrogen-powered airplanes, touted by some as a way to slash carbon emissions, are unlikely to prove a viable technology any time soon, the head of French engine maker Safran said Wednesday. An AFP dispatch to the Post quotes Olivier Andries telling a French parliamentary committee, "Hydrogen in aviation is more for the 22nd century." Airbus has been working for years on putting a hydrogen plane into service in the 2040s, but acknowledged last year that progress had been slower than expected. Burning hydrogen only produces water. Safran, a major engine supplier to both Airbus and Boeing, already has engines that can be fuelled with hydrogen but, Mr. Andries said, liquid hydrogen, even at minus -253 C, takes up four times as much space as kerosene, which is what jets use today. That makes it impossible to use with current plane designs, while requiring billions of euros of investment in hydrogen storage infrastructure at airports worldwide. He also cast doubt on calls to impose limits on flying to curb emissions, as the air transport sector aims to cut its 2005 pollution emission levels in half by 2050. More than five billion people travelled by plane last year.