Japan Airlines flight powered by domestic SAF blend

Japan Airlines successfully completed a commercial flight in early February from Tokyo Haneda to Fukuoka airport using a blend of conventional petroleum jet fuel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced in Japan. The SAF blend powered a Boeing 787-8.

More than two years ago, the airline initiated a domestic project to convert cotton clothing into SAF. Dozens of local companies helped collect 250,000 articles of clothing and, with technical support from Green Earth Institute and technology developed by the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth, SAF was manufactured in March 2020.

In 2018, Japan Airlines formed a strategic partnership with the Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport & Urban Development and Marubeni Corp. to invest in Fulcrum BioEnergy Inc., to jointly develop SAF.

The company says it became the first airline in 2009 to demonstrate flight in Asia using SAF made primarily from camelina oil.