Etihad Airways in partnership to develop local bio jet fuel industry

Dubai: Etihad Airways will work with airplane manufacturer Boeing and French petroleum company Total under a new initiative to develop the UAE’s aviation biofuel industry, the airline announced on Sunday.

The initiative, which also includes Abu Dhabi-based Masdar Institute and ADNOC subsidiary Takreer, aims to deliver a sustainable and commercially viable biofuel product by 2019.

The announcement of the “BIOjet Abu Dhabi: Flight Path to Sustainability” initiative was made at a joint press conference at Etihad Airways’ Training Academy in Abu Dhabi, a day after a partially biofuel powered Etihad Airways Boeing 777 completed a test flight in the UAE.

Richard Hill, Etihad’s Chief Operating Officer, said the venture was at least five years away from producing commercially viable biofuel.

“We have a long way to go. We are at the very early stages but we believe this is an important milestone because we have demonstrated [with the flight test] a concept that works,” he said.

Total partially converted the biomass in Brazil used for the flight test with Takreer completing the refining process in the UAE, making it the first UAE-produced bio jet fuel.

Bernard Clement, Senior Vice President of Total New Energies, said it will be a “long journey” when asked how long it would take to develop biofuel production facilities in the UAE.

Exemption

Producing a cost-efficient biofuel supply would be a significant step for airlines where fuel can account for around 40 per cent of costs. Airlines using biofuel for flights within Europe are exempt from the Europe Unions (EU) emissions trading scheme taxes, an Etihad spokesperson said.

The spokesperson declined to comment on how much the airline paid in EU fuel related taxes in 2013.

Asked if Etihad would welcome the involvement of neighbouring competitors Emirates and Qatar Airways, Hill said it was an Abu Dhabi initiative but that it would work with other stakeholders where possible.

Etihad’s equity stake partners are also not involved in the project — just yet.

“Because this project is specifically targeted at Abu Dhabi it makes sense for us to lead on it at this stage. And because we got a timeline that is a minimum five years away then we have plenty of time to engage with the partner airlines,” Hill said.