Earlier this week, Singapore Airlines (SIA) successfully launched its first flight supported by sustainable biofuels.
According to Channel News Asia, flight SQ31 left San Francisco on Monday morning and arrived in Singapore on Tuesday evening with 206 passengers on board.
SQ31 was the first of 12 “green package” flights available for the carrier’s nonstop San Francisco-Singapore route for the next three months. These will be the first passenger services in the world to simultaneously use biofuels, optimized flights operations and fuel-efficient aircraft.
However, SIA wasn’t the first airline to use sustainable biofuels as others such as Lufthansa, Finnair, Jetstar and KLM have been flying with greener options for a while.
The fuel is a mix of conventional jet fuel, hydro-processed esters and fatty acids produced from used cooking oils. US-based AltAir Fuels is in charge of production while SkyNRG and the North American Fuel Corporation supply and deliver the final product, which was certified safe for commercial use in 2011.
[Photo via Fortune]