Over the past year, Airbus has been testing different aircraft types to see how they operate on 100% sustainable aviation fuel. Now, the turn has come to the Airbus A380 and the Rolls-Royce Trent 900. Last Friday, Airbus’ A380 test aircraft MSN 1 took off from Blagnac Airport in Toulouse, France. It flew for three hours with one engine powered to 100% by SAF.

ZEROe demonstrator F-WWOW

Friday's flight took off at 08:43 local time in the morning and was operated by the same A380 that was recently revealed as the Airbus ZEROe demonstrator aircraft - F-WWOW. The program is part of the planemaker's ambitions to bring a zero-emissions aircraft to market by 2035. Among other things, it will feature an additional test engine mounted towards the aft of the fuselage that will run on hydrogen.

The flight used 27 tonnes of unblended SAF provided by French oil and gas company Total Energies, which has a refinery in Le Havre, a major port in the Normandie region. A second test flight is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, March 29. This will specifically focus on the use of SAF during take-off and landing.

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The flight lasted for three hours. Photo: FlightRadar24.com

Powered by HEFA

The SAF used by Airbus is so-called HEFA - Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids, which is free from aromatics and sulfur. Total Energies' HEFA consists mainly of used cooking oil as well as 'some other waste fats'.

The A380 is the third Airbus jet type to operate on 100% SAF over a period of 12 months. The first test flight was operated by an Airbus A350 in March last year. In October, the planemaker operated one of its A319neo single-aisle aircraft on pure biofuel for one of the engines.

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Airbus has partnered with a number of different actors for its series of SAF test flights. Photo: Airbus

An Airbus H225 helicopter also operated on 100% SAF for one of its Safran Makila 2 engines in November. All Airbus commercial aircraft are currently certified to operate on a 50% biofuel blend, which is the highest amount allowed by certification standards.

SAF to play a huge role in net-zero, report suggests

Rolls-Royce has also performed its own tests, equipping a Boeing 747 with Trent 1000 engines, one of which the iconic engine maker also powered to 100% with SAF. When the Air Transport Action Group Project released the second edition of its Waypoint 2050 report in September last year, it stated that the proliferation of SAF could account for as much as 53% to 71% of carbon reductions required for the industry to hit net-zero by mid-century.

One of the potential scenarios of the report dubbed the 'aggressive sustainable fuel deployment', sees 90% of the fuel supply switching to SAF by 2050. This would require around 445Mt of SAF - and an increase in the usage of sustainable fuels compared to fossil-based ones by 89.9%.