Biofuel Partly Powers Cathay Pacific Flight from Airbus

by Grant Bradley (New Zealand Herald) When a brand new Cathay Pacific Airbus A350-1000 flies from France to Hong Kong on Wednesday it will be partly powered by biofuel.

The 334-seat plane will have a 10 per cent blend of biofuel next to traditional jet fuel in its tanks which can hold 156,000 litres.

During previous deliveries of an earlier model of the plane from Toulouse in the south of France, the airline has used a sugarcane-based biofuel from a Brazil.

The use of biofuels has been supported by Airbus itself as well as fuel provider Total, which will be fuelling the A350-1000 on the day of its delivery.

The airline not only uses the sugar-cane biofuel - which has been used to power cars for decades - but several years ago it took an equity stake in a United States firm that aims to make alternative fuel from municipal waste for use on a commercial scale.

Cathay Pacific operated the longest biofuel delivery flight at the time when taking delivery of its first Airbus A350-900 aircraft in 2016. Twenty-two aircraft of this type have so far been delivered with a 10 per cent blend of alternative jet fuel in their tanks.

Compared to traditional jet fuel, biofuel can reduce life cycle greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 per cent.

The search for an alternative to kerosene-based jet fuel is quickening as oil prices again head up. There was a flurry of interest late last decade when fuel prices rose quickly but since then a commercial scale, sustainable fuel has yet to come into production.

Qantas has experimented with industrial mustard seed and may work with Air New Zealand to come up with an alternative.

At the International Air Transport Association meeting earlier this month attendees were told there were now 100,000 flights a year using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).