The Airbus C295 has performed its first demo flight using a blend of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

With a load of 29 per cent blended SAF in its two engines, the C295 performed a successful flight in Seville which the OEM says will help to pave the way towards the final goal: to achieve 100 per cent SAF capability for Airbus military aircraft and the decarbonisation of military aviation.

“With up to 50 per cent of blended SAF, no modifications are required on the aircraft”, explained Jose Antonio Urbano, research and development chief engineer at Airbus Defence and Space.

“So we are performing this demo flight to fully understand the aircraft behavior and to derive the necessary conclusion in preparation for future test campaigns with SAF.”

New-generation tactical airlifter

With 285 aircraft ordered and 38 operators in 34 different countries, the C295 – a new-generation tactical airlifter – has achieved more than 500,000 flight hours in all types of environments.

Juan José Baeza, flight test engineer at Airbus Defence and Space, said: “Although we know it would not be necessary with this SAF percentage used, the approach taken for this flight was to put the aircraft under the most demanding conditions in order to gather the necessary inputs for future 100 per cent SAF operations.

“Our objective is to measure the aircraft performance with both fuels – Jet-A1 and SAF -, shut down and restarting the engines on flight, sudden movement of the power control levers to produce intense fuel demands, a rejected landing, manoeuvres of approach and go around after performing the final landing, requesting the maximum negative power.”
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