The first uptake of the new fuel, which contains around 10% biofuel converted from used cooking oil and is produced in Los Angeles, California, was uplifted Jan. 3 by an SAS Scandinavian Airlines Airbus A320neo.
Stockholm Arlanda joins Oslo Gardermoen in offering the more environmentally friendly fuel.
Swedavia, the Swedish state-owned organization that owns and operates 10 airports throughout the country, bought the fuel through the Fly Green Fund, an organization that brings together aviation and biofuel bodies to help encourage the use of the fuel in Nordic nations.
KLM and Braathens Regional Airlines will also be using the new biofuel at Arlanda.
Although the amounts of biofuel being bought currently are small compared to the total quantity of jet fuel uplifted at Arlanda, the Jan. 3 event was “a symbolic and important step” toward encouraging the use of sustainable fuel, Scandinavian Airlines head of media relations Fredrik Henriksson said.
SAS and other airlines are keen to buy more biofuel, Henriksson said, but the availability and considerably higher cost of the greener fuel are currently limiting factors. However, the more demand grows, the more biofuel producers would be encouraged to step up production and the price would fall.
Organizations in Sweden are encouraged to offset the environmental flight costs by investing in the Fly Green Fund, which then buys biofuel. For example, Swedavia bought 450 tonnes, which it calculated was the amount its staff used while flying on business in 2016. Some of the money invested in the fund will also go toward establishing biofuel production facilities in the Nordic region.
The new mixed fuel is also available at Stockholm Bromma Airport and Åre Östersund Airport.
(Alan Dron - ATWonline News)
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