Emirates has operated its first milestone demonstration flight on a Boeing 777-300ER, powering one of its engines with 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in partnership with GE Aerospace, Boeing, Honeywell, Neste and Virent. The demonstration flight powered by SAF holds particular significance as the UAE declares 2023 the ‘Year of Sustainability’.
The flight took off from Dubai International Airport (DXB), and was commanded by Captain Fali Vajifdar and Captain Khalid Nasser Akram, flying for more than one hour over the Dubai coastline. The flight deck crew were accompanied by Adel Al Redha, Emirates’ Chief Operating Officer, and Captain Hassan Hammadi, Divisional Senior Vice President, Emirates Flight Operations.
Adel Al Redha, Chief Operating Officer, Emirates Airline said: “Emirates is the first passenger airline in the world to operate a Boeing 777 powering a GE engine with 100% SAF. We hope that landmark demonstrations flights like this one, will help open the door to scale up the SAF supply chain and make it more available and accessible across geographies, and most importantly, affordable for broader industry adoption in the future.”
“GE Aerospace congratulates Emirates on this major achievement. SAF is critical to helping the aviation industry reach its goal to be net zero by 2050 and collaborations like this to test 100% SAF globally will help bring us closer to this target,” said Aziz Koleilat, Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing for the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Turkey at GE Aerospace. “All GE Aerospace engines can operate on approved SAF blends today and we are helping support the approval and adoption of 100% SAF.”
“Boeing congratulates Emirates on its successful flight tests using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). We were proud to partner with Emirates on these tests and look forward to further working with our partners to enable the widespread use of SAF across the globe.” said Omar Arekat, Vice President, Commercial Sales and Marketing, Middle East, The Boeing Company.
His Excellency Saif Humaid Al Falasi, Group CEO at ENOC praised the achievement as it coincides with 2023 as the ‘Year of Sustainability’, which was announced by the UAE’s President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. It also represents a major step towards reducing carbon dioxide emissions and achieving climate neutrality.
