Budget airline IndiGo has begun operating its first aircraft using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). IndiGo shared the pictures of the aircraft SAF on its Twitter handle. It also shared the screengrab of a flight navigation map showing its first ever SAF aircraft embarked on a flight from Toulouse in France to Delhi. IndiGo tweeted, “Fasten your seatbelts, we’re ready to go green. Are you?” “There’s a green streak in the sky today. Can you spot our first ever SAF aircraft conquer the blue Indian skies,” the airline said in another tweet. The global aviation body IATA defines SAF as a “fuel that has the potential to generate lower carbon emissions than conventional kerosene on a life cycle basis.” In December last year, IndiGo had signed an agreement with the Dehradun-based Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP) to manufacture and deploy SAF globally. IndiGo had said that it wanted to be an anchor partner to such institutes and oil refining companies in the future to address the carbon emissions issue and take a lead in demonstrating its commitment towards sustainable and responsible growth. Besides this, IndiGo is working on fleet modernisation, implementing weight reduction measures on board, optimising flight routes, improving flight operations and following fuel-efficient best practices to reduce the consumption of aviation turbine fuel. The airline added that it knows that SAF is not in mass production currently and that its commercial use is still a few years away.
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There’s a green streak in the sky today, says IndiGo
