February 18, 2022: Indigo finished its first flight using Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
On February 18, Friday, IndiGo completed its first ever Sustainable Aviation Fuel flight. The flight took off from Toulouse, France and landed in New Delhi at 11:08 AM. A picture was posted by the company’s Twitter handle, captioned “Fasten your seat belts, ’cause we are ready to go green. Are you?”
Indigo took delivery of India's first SAF flight with Airbus A320neo and the first International flight operated by any Indian airline carrier SAF.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is produced from sources like feedstock, animal waste fat, cooking oil or solid wastes from homes, workplaces and businesses, like packaging, paper, textiles and food remains. The composition of SAF is thus extremely similar to jet fuel, except that it leaves less carbon footprints and decreases emissions by up to 80%. Jet fuel is a combination of hydrocarbons based out of fossil fuels, releasing the majority of flight emissions. The usage of SAF can hence be utilised as a crucial transition until safer carbon fuel sources are developed for the sector.
The intention behind airlines using SAF as their go-to flight fuel provides enough evidence of how airlines these days are looking for ways to reduce carbon footprints. Aviation alone contributes to 2% of all carbon emissions produced annually and 12% of all carbon dioxide emissions produced by the transportation sector. According to the International Council on Clean Transportation, airlines produced 90 g of total carbon dioxide per rpk (revenue passenger kilometre).
However, the cost of sustainable aviation fuel can be eight times as much as normal fuel due to lack of large-scale production. The number of flights that use SAF is also pretty low. When the production increases, the flight prices will also gradually drop.
To handle this situation, IndiGo had signed a partnership with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIRIIP) in December 2021. This partnership will enhance the production of SAF globally for the airline. Earlier, IndiGo had also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with an international SAF provider.
The complete commercialisation of SAF is still a future dream but the transition towards greener fuels depends on these big airline companies, who can endorse and promote SAF to to rope in manufacturers and increase production.