India flies 1st passenger flight using indigenous sustainable aviation fuel

In a significant development towards decarbonizing of the aviation sector, India’s first commercial passenger flight using indigenously produced Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) blend was successfully flown in, on Friday to Delhi from Pune. The Air Asia flight (I5 767) was powered by SAF blended ATF produced by Praj Industries by using indigenous feedstock supplied by Indian Oil Corporation.

Describing the occasion as a significant milestone in the country’s efforts towards Net Zero emissions by 2070, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri emphasised on the need of India becoming energy Atmanirbhar by 2047. “It goes without saying that the petroleum sector will have to contribute immensely to realize this vision,” said Puri, addressing industry leaders. This would be the first domestic commercial passenger flight with SAF blending up to 1 per cent as demonstration mode. By 2025, if the Government targets to blend 1 per cent SAF blending in jet fuel, India would require around 14 crore litre of SAF/annum. “More ambitiously, if we target for 5 per cent SAF blend, India required around 70 crore litre of SAF/ annum,” the Minister informed.

In recent years, SAF production technology has progressed significantly. Unlike traditional jet fuels, SAF is produced from renewable sources such as agricultural waste, municipal solid waste, and forestry residues which would allow SAF to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 per cent compared to conventional jet fuel. The civil aviation sector in India, according to Puri, consumes around 8 million tons of ATF and emitted around 20 million tons of GHGs in 2019 (pre-Covid). India has feedstock for potential production of 19 to 24 million tons of SAF per year, whereas the estimated maximum requirement of SAF in India, considering 50 per cent blend, is around 8 to 10 million tons per year by 2030.