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SIA launches flights powered by biofuels from used cooking oil

SINGAPORE — Singapore Airlines (SIA) will be using biofuels to partly power 12 of its flights over the next three months as part of an effort to reduce international aviation emissions, the national carrier announced on Wednesday (May 3).

A Singapore Airlines A350-900 plane. TODAY file photo

A Singapore Airlines A350-900 plane. TODAY file photo

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SINGAPORE — Singapore Airlines (SIA) will be using biofuels to partly power 12 of its flights over the next three months, as part of an effort to reduce international aviation emissions, announced the national carrier on Wednesday (May 3).

The first of the 12 flights, SQ31, successfully landed in Singapore on Tuesday with 206 passengers on board following a near 17-hour trip from San Francisco.

In a joint statement with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), SIA said the remaining 11 “green package” flights, on its “most fuel-efficient aircraft” the Airbus A350-900, will also ply the non-stop

San Francisco to Singapore route. The biofuel had been produced from used cooking oil. 

The SIA “green package” flights are powered by both biofuel and conventional jet fuel, though the airline did not disclose the exact energy mix.

According to SIA, SQ31 is the first in the world to combine the use of biofuels, a fuel-efficient aircraft and optimised flight operations facilitated by CAAS.

“Singapore Airlines’ fleet is already among the most modern and fuel-efficient in the world. We now want to push ourselves further and are embarking on this initiative to help promote the use of sustainable biofuel in an operationally and commercially viable manner,” said SIA’s CEO Goh Choon Phong.

Other than the ongoing “green-package” flights, SIA and CAAS have worked together in recent years on several other carbon emissions-reducing initiatives in international aviation. In January 2010, both organisations participated in the Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (Aspire) programme, which yielded about 6 per cent in fuel savings during a demonstration flight from Los Angeles to Singapore via Tokyo.

Since then, CAAS and SIA have launched regular Aspire flights on the Los Angeles-Singapore route. Flights to Auckland, Christchurch, Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Wellington have also been incrementally added to the Aspire programme.

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