Vistara, a joint venture of Tata group and Singapore Airlines, has become India’s first carrier to operate a wide-body aircraft using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on a long-haul route.
The ground-breaking flight from Charleston International Airport, South Carolina, to Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi was operated in partnership with The Boeing Company and GE Aerospace, on Vistara’ s newest GEnx-powered Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, the fourth in its fleet.
The flight used a blend of 30% SAF with 70% conventional jet fuel, reducing approximately 150,000 pounds of CO₂ emissions over the fuel’s life cycle.
Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara, said: “ This is an important milestone in our commitment towards achieving carbon neutrality.
“We thank our partners, Boeing and GE Aerospace, for their support and hope that initiatives such as this, open up more avenues for the industry to increasingly adopt sustainable technologies.
“Since the very beginning, Vistara had decided to invest in modern and advanced new aircraft with fuel efficient engines, and we remain committed towards reducing carbon emissions across all areas of our operations.”
Vistara, along with other airline companies of the Tata group – Air India and Air Asia India – recently signed an MoU with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Indian Institute of Petroleum to collaborate on the research, development and deployment of sustainable aviation fuels.
