CHINA’S FIRST HELICOPTER FLIGHT FROM AIRBUS USING SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUEL

An Airbus H125 helicopter belonging to State Grid Space Technology Co., Ltd (SGST) has successfully used sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for a flight demonstration at Hefei Shiwan Airport in China. This is the first helicopter flight using SAF in China, marking an important milestone in the development of low-carbon aviation in Chinese aeronautics.

This milestone comes just a few weeks after Airbus and the CNAF signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to intensify Chinese-European cooperation on the production, competitive application and common standards formulation for SAF during the French state visit to China. SAF is an alternative aviation fuel made from feedstock ranging from used fat, oil and grease, to municipal and forestry waste. Compared to fossil jet fuel, SAF has been shown to result in up to 80 percent reduction in CO2 across the entire SAF lifecycle. This cooperation agreement between Airbus and CNAF aims to optimise the SAF supply chain by diversifying the sources and enhancing SAF production towards the ambition of using 10 percent SAF by 2030.

The use of SAF is one of Airbus Helicopters' levers to contribute to ATAG’s Scenario 3 outlook to NetZero in 2050. One of the main benefits of using this new fuel is that it allows the aircraft to minimise its carbon footprint while maintaining the same flight performance.

Today, all Airbus helicopters are capable of flying with a blend of up to 50% of SAF mixed with kerosene, with the aim of having the aircraft operate with 100% SAF by 2030.