COMAC completes first sustainable aviation fuel-powered flights

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) has completed its first demonstration flights (aboard the C919 passenger aircraft and ARJ21 regional jet) using a 40% blend of SAF, describing the…


COMAC

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) has completed its first demonstration flights (aboard the C919 passenger aircraft and ARJ21 regional jet) using a 40% blend of SAF, describing the biofuel as providing “excellent flight performance”.

ECNS, the official English-language website of China News Service (CNS), report the flights each lasted over an hour; taking off from Shanghai Pudong Airport and Shangdong’s Dongying Airport respectively.

The SAF (described as being produced from waste cooking oil) was produced by China’s Sinopec (China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation) at its’s Zhenhai Refining and Chemical Company, home to the country’s first industrial facility for biofuel production. The plant received Asia’s first airworthiness certificates for domestically produced large-scale biofuels in September 2022.

ECNS concludes that more than ten enterprises and research institutions in China are engaged in the development and production of SAF, with several airlines having conducted commercial test flights using domestically-produced biofuel.

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