An Airbus A380 super jumbo made a successful test flight using a liquid fuel processed from gas, as the industry looks to source alternative fuel sources.
The flight from Filton, near Bristol, to Toulouse, the home of the A380, lasted three hours and saw one of the jet’s engines fed with a blend of gas to liquids (GTL) fuel mixed with regular jet fuel, whilst the remaining three were fed with standard jet fuel.
Airbus worked alongside Shell, who provided the GTL fuel, to test the effectiveness of the fuel on the double decker jet as it features segregated fuel tanks.
It is hoped that GTL could be available at certain locations to make it a practical and viable -in alternative fuel for commercial aviation in the short term as it can be manufactured from a range of hydrocarbon materials including natural gas or organic plant matter.
Tom Enders, Airbus president and CEO, said: “This takes bold cross industry and cross border collaboration and that’s what we are showing today with our groundbreaking first test flight with alternative fuels. It is part and parcel of Airbus’ commitment to providing leadership as an eco-efficient enterprise.”
Airbus is one of the partners in an EU backed initiative called Clean Sky launched yesterday (February 5) which will work as a public-private partnership to produce more environmentally friendly aircraft.
