Dubai: The first Emirates flights operating with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) took off from Dubai International Airport (DXB). Emirates’ flight EK 412 bound for Sydney on 24 October was among the first to operate with SAF.

Shell Aviation has supplied 315,000 gallons of blended SAF for use at the airline’s hub in Dubai. This first ever supply of SAF to Emirates in Dubai has enabled the airline to power a number of missions over the course of the last few weeks.

The blended SAF supplied by Shell into the DXB airport fuelling system was comprised of a ratio of 40% neat SAF and 60% conventional Jet A-1 fuel. The chemical characteristics at this ratio are identical to conventional jet fuel, and can seamlessly be integrated into the existing airport fuel infrastructure as well as in the engines of the entire Emirates fleet with no modifications required.

In its neat (unblended) form, SAF reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 percent over its life cycle when compared with conventional jet fuel.

Emirates operated the region’s first 100% SAF-powered demonstration flight in January. The airline first began using SAF in 2017, when it uplifted it on a flight from Chicago, and since then, flights from Stockholm, Paris, Lyon and Oslo have also operated with blended SAF.
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