Etihad Airways and Boeing to run 7th ecoDemonstrator partially on biofuels

In the UAE, Etihad Airways and Boeing will work together starting in August on the seventh iteration of the ecoDemonstrator program to test innovative technologies in the air, building on the core innovation and sustainability tenets of their strategic partnership signed in November 2019.

The ecoDemonstrator program utilizes commercial aircraft as flying testbeds to accelerate technology development that will make commercial aviation safer and more sustainable now and into the future. The 2020 program will be the first to use a Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner. It will leverage the Etihad Greenliner program as part of the broader Etihad-Boeing Strategic Partnership to test cutting-edge technologies and explore “blue sky” opportunities to improve airspace efficiency, reduce fuel use, and cut CO2 emissions.

Test flights will be flown on a blend of sustainable fuel, which significantly lowers aviation’s environmental footprint. South Africa’s Engineering News says the blend will be 50%.