Vistara Becomes The First Indian Airline To Operate A Wide-Body Aircraft On A Long-Haul Rout Using SAF

Bangalore, Mumbai, March 2023: Vistara, India’s most interesting full-service service and a three way partnership of Tata group and Singapore Airlines, in the present day grew to become India’s first service to function a wide-body plane utilizing sustainable aviation gas (SAF) on a long-haul route. The ground-breaking ferry flight from Charleston International Airport, South Carolina to Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi was operated in partnership with The Boeing Company and GE Aerospace, on Vistara s latest GEnx-powered Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner plane, the fourth in its fleet. By utilizing a mix of 30% SAF with 70% standard jet gas, Vistara was in a position to scale back roughly 150,000 kilos of CO₂ emissions over the gas’s life cycle.

Mr. Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara, mentioned, “We take immense pleasure in finishing up one other pioneering initiative to function a wide-body plane on a long-haul route utilizing SAF, as we took supply of our all-new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. This is a crucial milestone in our dedication to attaining carbon neutrality. We thank our companions, Boeing and GE Aerospace, for his or her help and hope that initiatives akin to this, open up extra avenues for the {industry} to more and more undertake sustainable applied sciences. Since the very starting, Vistara had determined to put money into fashionable and superior new plane with fuel-efficient engines, and we stay dedicated to lowering carbon emissions throughout all areas of our operations.”

Mr. Salil Gupte, President, of Boeing India mentioned, “We congratulate Vistara on the numerous achievement of changing into the primary Indian airline to function a wide-body plane, the Boeing 787-9, on a long-haul route utilizing SAF. This is a serious milestone within the Indian aviation {industry}’s journey in direction of decarbonization, and we’re proud to have been a associate on this endeavor. Boeing stays dedicated to working with Vistara and different companions to advertise using SAF within the Indian aviation {industry} and world wide, in help of our collective purpose of attaining a sustainable future for air journey.”

Mr. Vikram Rai, Country Head – South Asia & Indonesia, GE Aerospace mentioned, “GE Aerospace congratulates Vistara on this milestone. The GEnx engine, like all GE Aerospace engines, can function on permitted SAF blends in the present day. Compatibility with present plane engines is likely one of the causes SAF is important to serving to the aviation {industry} attain its purpose to be internet zero by 2050 and collaborations like this encouraging larger adoption of SAF globally helps carry us nearer to this goal. The GEnx can be as much as 15% extra gas environment friendly than its predecessor, serving to scale back gas consumption and CO2 emissions in flight along with the advantages of SAF.”

Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is a cleaner and extra sustainable different to traditional jet gas, decreasing carbon emissions by as much as 80% over the gas’s life cycle, relying on the feedstock. Vistara is consistently improved methods to do enterprise, maintaining sustainability on the coronary heart of these improvements and this ferry flight on SAF, one other industry-first initiative in India, is a testomony to that.

The airline is at the moment working below the TATA Aviation Sustainability Working Group together with the opposite aviation arms of the TATA group for lowering carbon emissions. Vistara, together with different airline corporations of the Tata group – Air India and Air Asia India, lately signed an MoU with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – Indian Institute of Petroleum to collaborate on the analysis, improvement, and deployment of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs). The airline would even be collectively working by way of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), to decrease CO2 emissions for worldwide flights and to curb the {industry}’s impression on local weather change.

Vistara is India’s highest-rated airline on Skytrax and TripAdvisor, and it has been the winner of a number of ‘Best Airline’ awards, apart from being lauded for world-class cabin cleanliness and upholding excessive security requirements. The airline has lately been featured amongst World’s Top 20 Airlines whereas being recognised because the ‘Best Airline in India and Southern Asia’ for the second time in a row, ‘Best Airline Staff Service in India and Southern Asia’ for the fourth consecutive yr, ‘Best Cabin Crew in India and Southern Asia’ for the second time in a row and ‘Best Business Class in India and Southern Asia’ on the coveted Skytrax World Airline Awards 2022. Vistara additionally lately obtained the ch-aviation Asia’s Third Youngest Airline Fleet award for the second consecutive yr.