Etihad Airways operates first biofuel powered delivery flight

Abu Dhabi, Jan 26, 2012 (WAM) - Etihad Airways' flight from Seattle to Abu Dhabi - the delivery flight of the airline's newest Boeing 777-300ER that arrived on January 24 - was the first in the Gulf to be operated using sustainable biofuel. The 14 hour delivery flight of the airline's newest and most efficient long haul aircraft was operated using a combination of traditional jet fuel and plant-based jet fuel, which is fully certified for use as commercial jet fuel. Sustainability is a key aspect of the biofuel production process. Etihad Airways, as a member of the global Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group, has committed to a stringent set of sustainability principles when looking at opportunities for biofuel development and use. This includes ensuring that feedstock is non-competitive with food sources and does not jeopardise drinking water supplies. As part of this commitment and in helping to drive the development of potential feedstock in Abu Dhabi, Etihad Airways is also one of the founding members of the Masdar Institute's Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium (SBRC) in Abu Dhabi. This innovative five-year program, backed by over USD 2 million of financial and other support from the airline, supports research into the use of salt water tolerant plants as the basis for alternative aviation fuels. With new regulations now being imposed on aviation carbon emissions, the commercial viability of biofuel is gaining even more importance. Starting this year, the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) will require all airlines to pay for emissions and this is likely to lead to other such schemes around the world. Biofuel is considered carbon neutral as the plant biomass takes in carbon as it grows and releases it again during the combustion process, and this means that the use of biofuel as part of the EU ETS would be considered exempt.