Qatar Airways has shown its commitment to the environment and we expect this alternative fuel to provide benefits, particularly the improvement of air quality. Qatar Airways looks forward to continuing to work with the consortium members to further develop this exciting project and commit towards a cleaner environment,” said Al Baker. The fuel, as an alternative to conventional oil-based kerosene, will contribute to diversification of aviation fuel supply. It also burns with lower sulphur dioxide and particulate emissions than pure conventional oil-based kerosene, making it attractive for improving local air quality at busy airports. The blend of conventional kerosene and GTL kerosene will be known as GTL Jet Fuel. The GTL kerosene will be produced in commercial quantities by the Pearl GTL project, currently under construction by Qatar Petroleum and Shell. The project is expected to produce around one million tonnes per annum of GTL kerosene from 2012, enough to power a typical commercial airliner for half a billion kilometres (equivalent to carrying 250 passengers around the world 4,000 times) when used in a 50 percent blend to make GTL Jet Fuel. GTL Jet Fuel is more expensive compared to the conventional one. “To ensure the next generation enjoys cleaner atmosphere, we will have to pay,” said Al Baker. GTL Jet Fuel, with GTL kerosene up to 50 percent, was fully and unconditionally approved as safe for use in civil aviation by ASTM International (American Society for Testing and Materials) last month. “This is a major breakthrough which brings us closer to a world where fuels made from feedstock such as wood-chip waste and other biomass is available for commercial aviation. Airbus predicts that in 2030, up to 30 per cent of jet fuel will be alternative,” said Rainer Ohler, Airbus’ Senior Vice-President Public Affairs and Communications. In an earlier phase of the research work, in February 2008, a test Airbus A380 flew from Filton in the United Kingdom to Toulouse in France in the first ever use of GTL Jet Fuel to power an airliner. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=October2009&file=Local_News200910131318.xml

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