The milestone test flight that took off from Seletar Airport in Singapore was achieved by close cooperation between Bell, Safran Helicopter Engines and Neste.
Neste recently made its first impression in the Southeast Asia region when Bell’s next-generation five-seater helicopter, the Bell 505, powered with Neste’s flagship MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) took off at Seletar Airport in Singapore for a demonstration flight. This is the first-ever helicopter flight fueled with SAF in Southeast Asia. According to Neste, the milestone test flight was achieved by close cooperation between Bell, Safran Helicopter Engines and Neste.
Jet Aviation and Shell Aviation too played a crucial role by enabling the blended SAF to be uplifted through their facilities at Seletar Airport. With the demo flight the companies, as an integral component of the aviation industry, aim to showcase the commitment of the business aviation community towards the industry’s ambitious emissions reduction goals and adopting SAF as a key element in helping achieve these goals.
“Bell has been in Southeast Asia for more than 40 years and we are proud to operate the first SAF helicopter flight here on our Bell 505,” said Jacinto Monge, managing director, Asia Pacific, Bell. “Today’s flight demonstrates our commitment to incorporating SAF into our customer demonstration aircraft globally, supporting Textron’s Achieve 2025 Sustainable Footprint goal for a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions,” he further added.
According to Neste, the MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80% over the fuel’s life cycle compared to fossil jet fuel use. SAF can currently be used up to 50% blended with conventional jet fuel, and Safran helicopter engines are already certified to operate on up to 50% SAF.
“The ambitious emissions reduction goals of the aviation industry can only be achieved through wide-scale adoption and use of sustainable aviation fuel and cooperation across the stakeholders in the aviation ecosystem. With today’s demo flight, we showcase that SAF can safely and easily be used also for helicopter operations. I am also proud that this milestone was achieved in Singapore. With the expansion of our Singapore refinery nearing completion, and the ongoing modification of our Rotterdam refinery, we will be able to produce up to 1.5 million tons of SAF by the end of 2023, ready to support aviation globally and in the Asia-Pacific region,” says Sami Jauhiainen, Vice President APAC, Renewable Aviation, Neste.
SAF delivers the performance of conventional jet fuel but with a significantly smaller carbon footprint on a life cycle basis. Neste MY Sustainable Aviation (SAF) is produced 100% from sustainably-sourced, renewable waste and residue raw materials, such as used cooking oil and animal fat waste. Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel is a current solution, commercially available and in use worldwide.
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Neste creates solutions for combating climate change and aims to accelerate a shift to a circular economy. The company refines waste, residues and innovative raw materials into renewable fuels and sustainable feedstock for plastics and other materials. Neste is the world’s leading producer of sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel and developing chemical recycling to combat the plastic waste challenge. The company aims at helping customers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions with their renewable and circular solutions by at least 20 million tons annually by 2030.
