Airbus powers its massive A380 carrying Rolls Royce engine with cooking oil for 1st time

Paving the way toward sustainable flights, Airbus recently conducted its first flight powered by 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Flown on March 25, the Airbus A380 took off from Blagnac Airport in France’s Toulouse with 27 tonnes of fuel that was made primarily of used cooking oil as well as other waste fats. In a press statement released by Airbus following the flight, it revealed that the sustainable fuel was used to power a Rolls Royce Trent 900 engine which allowed the flight to last a total of three hours. The company flew the same plane yet again on March 29, this time with an aim to test the use of SAF during take-off and landing.

A flying testbed for achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050

Airbus revealed that the flight that flew on March 29 was the third aircraft that flew on 100% SAF in the last 12 months. The first flight was conducted in March 2021 using an Airbus A350 followed by an A319neo single-aisle aircraft in October 2021. "All Airbus aircraft are currently certified to fly with up to a 50% blend of SAF mixed with kerosene. The aim is to achieve certification of 100% SAF by the end of this decade", the company said in its release. "Increasing the use of SAF remains a key pathway to achieving the industry’s ambition of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050", it added.

Airbus further stated that the A380 is the testbed for future technologies that would bring the world's first zero-emission aircraft to market by 2035. On the other hand, Rolls Royce, whose engine was used in the plane, said that its Trent engines would use 100% sustainable fuel by 2023, Daily Mail reported. Interestingly, citing a Waypoint 2050 report, Airbus said that using SAF could result in 53% to 71% of required carbon reductions.

A report by Interesting Engineering revealed that Airbus had announced to halt the production of its A380 planes as the company was dealing with high production costs and low demand. However, the plane is still being used as a testbed owing to its massive size and Airbus, as its next project, is planning to test the A380s with hydrogen engines by 2026.