The world’s largest passenger airliner A380 has completed its test flight using cooking oil for fuel.
According to World Economic Forum, the giant plane took off from an airport at Toulouse, France and flew for 3 hours. A few days later it flew from Toulouse to Nice for its 2nd successful test flight.
The plane is an A380 ‘superjumbo’ capable of carrying 853 people on board. Its engine was powered by Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) created from oils and waste fats. SAF are a blend of used cooking oil, agricultural residue, and non-fossil CO2 which sustained the plane’s single Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine throughout the three-hour trip.
This amazing feat was announced via official twitter handle of Airbus company in which they shared their achievement and commitment towards carbon-neutral flying.
“Who’s the next to take off with 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel…it’s the A380! After the A350 and the A319neo last year, we’re so proud to continue our 100% SAF journey with this iconic aircraft that will remain in our skies for decades to come”
“We were flying, first of all departing Toulouse, then we spent almost 45 minutes south of Toulouse going to the Bordeaux area and we had sustainable aviation fuel. The engine was supplied only by SAFs and we didn’t notice any difference from a Pilot’s point of view. Its basically preparing for the future for all the next generations of airplanes to come,” shared Wolfgang Absmeier, the flight test pilot, Airbus.
According to the report of WEF, right now, all Airbus planes can fly using 50% SAF but it plans to fly passengers on 100% SAF by 2023. SAFs can reduce carbon emissions by up to 80% compared with traditional jet fuel.
Airbus isn’t the only company working towards clean aviation. Earlier, Reuters shared that ‘ZeroAvia’ has built a hydrogen powered electric plane. It can carry 6 passengers at height of up to 300 meters and it emits only water vapors.
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