Indian Sky sees its first biofuel Spicejet flight; commences journey from Dehradun to Delhi

NewsBharati    27-Aug-2018
Total Views |

Dehradun, August 27: Low-cost carrier SpiceJet has set a record to become the first Indian airline to use biofuel for a demonstration flight today as it looks to cut its aviation fuel bill. The airline operated a turboprop Q-400 from Dehradun to Delhi using this sustainable alternative fuel. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat flagged off the SpiceJet Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft from Dehradun's Jolly Grant airport.


 

Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu, Environment Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha received the first flight. 

Now, India is among the first developing nations to adopt the sustainable alternative jet fuel. Earlier, the US and Australia have used biofuel for commercial flights.

The biofuel for the proposed flight has been developed by Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun. The made-in-India alternative fuel has acquired all statutory clearances, including those from designated testing labs and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).


 

The biofuel is made partially from renewable resources such as agricultural residues, non-edible oils and bio-degradable fractions of industrial and municipal wastes. Biofuel flights could make air travel cleaner and more efficient, thus drastically reducing the cost of airline operations by reducing the dependency on aviation turbine fuel.

 

It is worth mentioning here that the Union Cabinet in May showed thums up the national biofuels policy, reducing dependence on imports for energy security. Furthermore, the Centre is taking various steps, including focusing on biofuels, to reduce the cost of crude oil import. India — the third-largest oil consumer — depends on imports for 80 per cent of its crude oil needs. India spent nearly USD 88 billion (about Rs 5.9 lakh crore) on the import of crude oil in 2017-18.

On August 10, World Biofuel Day 2018 was organized in Delhi where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the Centre is promoting the use of biofuel in a major way to cut the crude oil import bill by Rs 12,000 crore over the next four years.

 

In January, Australian airline Qantas flew Dreamliner Boeing 787-9 between Los Angeles and Melbourne powered partly by biofuel. It may be noted that the 15-hour flight used a blended fuel that was derived from 10 per cent industrial type of mustard seed. In 2011, Alaska Airlines operated the world's first biofuel-powered flight, using the fuel made of 50 per cent used cooking oil.