Etihad Airways flies first biofuel flight

Middle Eastern airline Etihad Airways has flown its first biofuels flight from Seattle to Dubai, using a Boeing 777-300ER.

The airline is the first to operate such as flight around the Gulf and the fuel was supplied by SkyNRG, which is an Amsterdam-based sustainable jet fuel supplier.

From the factory to the plane, the fuel was delivered with the help of SkyNRG’s partners EPIC Aviation and Boeing.

Etihad, which is an Arab airline, says it hopes the flight will help to support the development of and commercialisation of biofuels around the Abu Dhabi region.

‘However, the use of a presently available biofuel is just one part of a more comprehensive long-term biofuel strategy to ensure that we are able to use biofuels to decarbonise substantially an entire industry sector in the long term,’ says Dirk Kronemeijer, MD of SkyNRG. ‘We think the Middle East has great potential to give a critical boost towards making a market for sustainable jet fuel that is affordable.’