Indigo goes green as its first-ever SAF aircraft takes off from Toulouse to Delhi

New Delhi: Budget airline carrier IndiGo shared the pictures of the first-ever aircraft utilising sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on its Twitter handle. IndiGo also shared the screengrab of a flight navigation map showing its first ever SAF aircraft embarked on a flight from Toulouse to Delhi.

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IndiGo tweeted, “Fasten your seatbelts, [because] we’re ready to go green. Are you?”. “There’s a green streak in the sky today. Can you spot our first ever SAF aircraft conquer the blue Indian skies,” the airline said in another tweet.

Fasten your seatbelts, ‘cause we’re ready to go green. Are you? #IndiGoGreen @Airbus#Aviation #travel #LetsIndiGo #GoGreen #Sustainable #aviationlovers #airbuslovers pic.twitter.com/iMlBPyFCFN

— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) February 18, 2022

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“At IndiGo, we recognise the importance of adopting sustainability in aviation and this is another step towards a cleaner environment,” he noted.

The Toulouse-Delhi flight operated by this A320neo aircraft on Friday was the first international flight operated by any Indian carrier using SAF, the airline’s statement said.

So, what is sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) that powers the latest IndiGo aircraft? The global aviation body IATA defines SAF as a “fuel that has the potential to generate lower carbon emissions than conventional kerosene on a life cycle basis.”

In December last year, IndiGo had inked an agreement with the Dehradun-based Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP) to manufacture and deploy sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) globally.

IndiGo had said that it wanted to be an anchor partner to such institutes and oil refining companies in the future to address the carbon emissions issue and take a lead in demonstrating its commitment towards sustainable and responsible growth, sources reported.

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Besides this, IndiGo is also working on fleet modernization, implementing weight reduction measures on board, optimising flight routes, improving flight operations and following fuel-efficient best practices to reduce the consumption of aviation turbine fuel (ATF). The airline further added that it knows that SAF is not in mass production currently and that its commercial use is still a few years away.