Vistara became the first airline in India to fly a widebody aircraft on a long-haul route using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Vistara recently took delivery of its fourth Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The aircraft took-off from Charleston and landed at New Delhi International Airport. The partnership flight used a blend of 30% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) with 70 conventional jet fuel.
Vistara is all set to commence Mumbai-London Heathrow services five weekly, from June 1, 2023 on this brand-new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
"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," said Vinod Kannan, CEO, Vistara
"We congratulate Vistara on the significant achievement of becoming the first Indian airline to operate a wide-body aircraft, the Boeing 787-9, on a long-haul route using SAF. This is a major milestone in the Indian aviation industry`s journey towards decarbonization, and we are proud to have been a partner in this endeavour," said Salil Gupte, president, Boeing India.
Vikram Rai, country head, South Asia and Indonesia, GE Aerospace, said, "GE Aerospace congratulates Vistara on this milestone. The GEnx engine, like all GE Aerospace engines, can operate on approved SAF blends today. Compatibility with existing aircraft engines is one of the reasons SAF is critical to helping the aviation industry reach its goal to be net zero by 2050 and collaborations like this encouraging greater adoption of SAF globally helps bring us closer to this target. The GEnx is also up to 15% more fuel efficient than its predecessor, helping reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in flight in addition to the benefits of SAF."
Vistara claims it was able to reduce approximately 150,000 pounds of CO2 emissions over the fuel`s life cycle.