British Airways’ flying eco lab, an A320neo tricked out with a ‘Better World’ livery, has completed what the airline called a ‘perfect flight’ with a carbon-neutral program that included 35% used cooking oil in the fuel mix. It was the airline’s first passenger flight with the fuel.
The fuel, blended for the airline by BP, combined the cooking oil with conventional jet fuel. According to the airline, by comparison with a test flight ten years ago, there was a 62% reduction in emissions on the London-to-Edinburgh flight.
The carbon-neutral claim is based on a number of other actions besides the fuel, including using what the airline calls its ‘quietest and most fuel-efficient’ plane, using an electric tug for pushback and only one engine for taxiing to the take-off runway and advanced computer and control-tower guidance for the most efficient climb and flight characteristics.
BA has said it expects its entire operation to be carbon-neutral by 2050.
