An airplane that flies without kerosene is possible. This is the feat that was recently achieved with an A380. The European aeronautical company managed to fly one of its planes with used cooking oil.
It is an ordinary-looking Airbus A380 which flew in the Toulouse sky on Friday March 25, 2022. With the difference that one of the four engines of the largest civil aircraft in the world was powered 100% with “fuel from sustainable aviation” (SAF, Sustainable Aviation Fuel).
The A380 took off at 8:43 a.m. from the Toulouse-Blagnac airport runway for a test flight that lasted three hours, Airbus said. During this flight, which took place without incident, the plane will have burned 27 tons of this sustainable fuel, made mainly with cooking oil.
This sustainable fuel was concocted in Normandy, near Le Havre, and supplied by Total Engines. According to Airbus, this sustainable fuel was developed from the processing of frying oil and other fats. “ [SAF] was made from hydrotreated esters and fatty acids, free of aromatics and sulfur, and consisting mostly of used cooking oil, along with other fatty wastes. ”
A second flight took place on Tuesday March 29, 2022 between Toulouse and Nice airport. For a year, Airbus has multiplied alternative fuel flights, Friday’s being the firm’s third test. In March 2021, an A350 was the first aircraft to fly with this fuel system. Followed in October of the same year by an A319neo.
Currently, Airbus flies its aircraft on 50% SAF fuel. Its objective is to reach 100% by the end of the decade.