Finnair has announced it has operated a flight from Helsinki to New York with an Airbus A330 using environmentally sustainable biofuel.
The flight took place while the UN Climate Summit was underway in New York.
According to Finnair, the biofuel mixture powering the flight to New York was provided by SkyNRG Nordic, which is a joint venture between SkyNRG and Statoil Aviation. The mixture is partly manufactured from cooking oil recycled from restaurants, an example of a biofuel alternative to ordinary jet fuel that significantly reduces net greenhouse gas emissions while also being sustainable in its own right.
“The UN Climate Summit is an important gathering to fight climate change, and we wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the climate benefits of more widespread adoption of environmentally sustainable biofuels in aviation,” Finnair VP-sustainable development Kati Ihamäki said.
Finland Minister for International Development Pekka Haavisto said, “As air traffic contributes 2% of all greenhouse gas emissions, it is very important to have this trial with the use of biofuels. If the price of oil rises and biofuels become cheaper, there will hopefully be a day when we’ll be able to replace at least some of the fossil fuels with fuels made of renewable and waste material.”