By Greentech Lead America: Air Canada announced
its first flight with biofuel from Toronto to Mexico City. The
flight AC991 is expected to generate at least 40 per cent fewer emissions by
using jet fuel derived from recycled cooking oil and through other fuel-saving
measures. Air Canada claims this is the most environmentally-friendly
flight ever flown by the company.
“Air Canada fully accepts its
responsibility to reduce its footprint and our first flight using biofuel
tangibly demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the environment. Since 1990 our
airline has become 30 per cent more fuel efficient and we are determined to increase
these gains through cutting-edge measures such as those being showcased with
this Toronto-Mexico City flight, our greenest ever,” said Duncan Dee,
executive vice president and chief operating officer at Air Canada.
The flight is supported by Airbus and is part of an
environmental demonstration by the International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO) to coincide with the Rio +20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development.
Air Canada has selected an Airbus A319 aircraft for
this flight, the flight utilizes a 50/50 mix of regular and biofuel derived
from recycled cooking oil. This blend produced by SkyNRG has been recertified
to normal jet fuel standards and can be safely used without modifying the
aircraft’s systems.
“Today’s flight with Air Canada proves
that the aviation industry is in a strong position to reduce emissions. To make
this a day-to-day commercial reality, it requires now a political will to
foster incentives to scale up the use of sustainable biofuels and to accelerate
the modernization of the air-traffic-management system,” said Fabrice Bregier,
Airbus president and CEO.
Qantas becomes the first commercial biofuel flight between
Sydney and Adelaide
Recently, Australian airliner Qantas flew the country’s
first commercial biofuel flight between Sydney and Adelaide using a mix of
conventional fuel and refined cooking oil.