IndiGo on Friday took delivery from Airbus of its first aircraft that will operate on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), a statement said.
Any fuel that has lower carbon emissions than conventional kerosene is known as SAF.
“We are pleased to take delivery of this Airbus aircraft which will run on SAF, as part of our journey towards sustainable aviation. At IndiGo, we recognise the importance of adopting sustainability in aviation and this is another step towards a cleaner environment,” Ronojoy Dutta, Chief Executive Officer, IndiGo said.
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.
The aircraft landed at the Delhi airport at 11 AM on Friday, it noted.
Commercial aviation is responsible for about two-three per cent of the global carbon emissions.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has given up flying to reduce her personal carbon footprint, boosting the “flight shame” movement in Europe and other parts of the world.
IndiGo had in July 2021 said it aims to reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emission by 18 per cent per available seat kilometre (ASK) in 2022-23 as compared to 2015-16.
ASK measures passenger carrying capacity of the airline and it is calculated by multiplying the total number of seats in flights to total number of kilometres flown by them.
