It's as wide as a football pitch, it's part-built in North Wales and now it's become an eco-friendly "green" giant. The world's largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380, has become the first commercial plane to fly on "green" liquid fuel made from natural gas - rather than crude oil.

The plane, the wings for which are made at Broughton, completed the historic flight from Bristol to France yesterday on a synthetic fuel developed using gas to liquid (GTL) technology.
A GTL commercial plant to produce the fuel is being built by Shell and Qatar Petroleum in the Middle East. Shell Aviation vice president Sjoerd Post said he hoped the plane would eventually run on even greener bio-fuels made from sustainable plant matter. Mr Post said: "In our drive for cleaner fuels, GTL technology can help reduce local emissions and encourage sustainable mobility."

Airbus chief executive Tom Enders hailed the three-hour test flight using an alternative fuel as groundbreaking. One engine burned a blend of GTL and jet fuel whilst the remaining three used standard jet fuel. Sebastien Remy, head of Airbus' alternative fuels programme, said GTL was better than traditional kerosene jet fuel because it did not deplete the world's oil supply, produced less emissions of pollutants and was virtually free of sulphur.

It hopes that up to a third of jet fuel can be bio-fuel by 2030 although some planes could be approved to run on it as early as 2020. The double-decker A380 will make its commercial debut in Britain and Europe in six weeks time when it flies into Heathrow from Singapore on March 18. Singapore Airlines takes delivery of its third A380 in mid-March, enabling the airline to start the service to London. It currently operates the first two on its Singapore-Sydney route. Singapore Airlines' A380s are configured to seat 471 passengers.

Source : Daily Post North Wales