In a move of its kind, Kenya Airways, the national airline of Kenya, has gone on to become the first airline in Africa to make use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) which happens to be provided by Eni for a long-haul flight.
The Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner, which took off from Nairobi International Airport to Amsterdam’s Schiphol, was powered by sustainable aviation fuel from Eni Sustainable Mobility.
For this particular flight, JetA1 fuel got mixed with Eni Biojet, which was produced in the Livorno refinery of Eni by distilling the bio-components manufactured at the Gela biorefinery.
According to the CEO of Kenya Airways, Allan Kilavuka, working with Eni Sustainable Mobility so as to pilot the use of SAF puts them on the first pathway of testing the usage of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in Africa. The data as well as insights generated from the pilot flight are going to be valuable in order to inform policy decisions, industry best practises pertaining to SAF, and regulatory frameworks.
This is going to be a prominent milestone for Kenya Airways and also when it comes to the perspective of the African aviation sector.
Eni Biojet has 100% biogenic feedstock and is apt for usage of up to 50% of JetA1 fuel. For this specific flight, it was mixed with the conventional jet fuel that came from Kenya Airways in Nairobi.
The Eni Biojet supply to the Nairobi Airport is indeed a very significant step for Eni Sustainable Mobility since it goes on to confirm that the company can be supportive to airlines like Kenya Airways in their road to decarbonization, remarked Eni Sustainable Mobility CEO, Stefano Ballista.
Right from 2025, all aircraft leaving airports in Europe shall be required to have a proportion of SAF in the jet fuel.
Because of this, the airline happens to be positioning itself to take advantage of sustainable aviation fuel progress in sync with the direction that’s indicated by the EU with the regulation from ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation that sets objectives for mixing traditional fuels with surging amounts of more sustainable fuels.
