Gone are the days when cooking oil was used to boost the flavour of a dish in a pan. Fast forward to 2022, the versatile oil helps a three-hour behemoth flight take-off and touch down at its destination. 

The Airbus A380, a massive wide-body airliner, has completed its trial of a flight powered on cooking oil. 

The test aircraft successfully completed its three-four flight that took off from Blagnac Airport in Toulouse, France, on March 25. 

The flight, operated on a singular Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine, was powered by Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), which is mainly made up of used cooking oil and waste fats. 

On March 29, Airbus then followed up with a second test flight with cooking oil fuel that flew from Toulouse to Nice. The primary objective of the second flight was to track SAF use during take-off and landing.

The cooking oil fuel used in the flights was supplied by TotalEnergies, a France-based multinational oil and gas company. The fuel was formulated from Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA), a type of fuel that does not contain sulfur and aromatics.

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Since last year, Airbus has been testing the use of cooking oil in flights. The first test last year was conducted on an A350 in March. Another test was conducted on an A319neo single-aisle aircraft in October.

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As the company makes progress on cooking oil usage in aircraft, it aims to get its flights certified to fly on SAF by the end of the decade. At present, Airbus aircraft can be powered up to 50% SAF, with a blend of conventional kerosene. 

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“Increasing the use of SAF remains a key pathway to achieving the industry’s ambition of netzero carbon emissions by 2050,” Airbus said in a statement. 

By 2035, the company aims to launch the world’s first zero-emission aircraft.