A new milestone on the road to a more sustainable aviation occurred today, June 21th. For the first time, a regional airliner completed a flight powered entirely by sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The operation was part of collaborative work between French-Italian manufacturer ATR, Swedish regional airline Braathens and Finnish fuel producer Neste.
The historic operation was carried out by an ATR 72-600 and linked Malmö and Stockholm-Bromma airports in one hour and twenty minutes. Thus, they advanced the process of certifying ATR’s aircraft to fly with 100% SAF that started in September 2021 and they plan to finish in 2025.
Since the beginning of this year, the companies conducted ground tests and flights with SAF on one of the engines. These are standard procedures in this type of process. The use of sustainable fuel in the industry is still in its infancy. It is generally used mixed with traditional fuel. For this reason, the realization of a flight of a passenger aircraft powered entirely by SAF for the first time will have its place in the history books of aviation.
«After more than a century of commercial flights powered by kerosene, we are at the dawn of a new era», said Stefano Bortoli, CEO of ATR. «The flight represents a true milestone for the entire aviation industry as it shows that this technology works and can be promptly adopted by many in our industry to speed up the transition to low emission aviation», he added.
In that sense, Jonathan Wood, Neste’s Vice President for Europe, emphasized that «SAF plays a key role in achieving aviation’s emission reduction goals». He added that use of 100% of this sustainable fuel, called Neste MY, «reduces greenhouse gas emissions over its life cycle by up to 80%.
Today’s operation marks an important step on the road to lower carbon air operations and reduced overall environmental impact. The results of the flight will be analyzed and published at a later date, they said.
See also: Viva Aerobus makes its first flight with sustainable fuel
