Air France, TotalEnergies, the Métropole of Nice Côte d’Azur and Nice Côte d’Azur Airport have collaborated on a ground-breaking Nice-Paris flight using sustainable aviation fuel.
Air France Flight 6235 flew from Nice Airport to Paris Orly Airport on October 1, operating on 30% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced by TotalEnergies. The first long-haul flight fuelled by French-made SAF took place in May, also the result of an Air France and TotalEnergies collaboration.
The biofuel used for the latest flight was produced from waste and residues generated by the circular economy. It was made from used cooking oils at TotalEnergies’ La Mède biorefinery in Bouches-du-Rhône and its plant at Oudalle (Seine-Maritime) and carries International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC-EU), a guarantee of its sustainability. Using 30% SAF on the Nice-Paris flight will prevent the emission of three tons of CO2, according to the organisations behind the project.
Air France
The SAF-fuelled flight took place during Nice Transition Days, an international festival celebrating ecological innovations, organised by the Métropole of Nice-Côte d’Azur in partnership with La Tribune newspaper and the Transition Forum association. The flight marked the end of the Transition Forum, an international economic conference held over two days during the Nice Transition Days, aimed at accelerating the transition to a lower-carbon future.
"Air France is very happy to sign off the two days of the Nice Transition Forum with a flight from Nice to Orly Airport in Paris, fuelled with a significant 30% proportion of SAF,” said CEO Anne Rigail. “This operation is a further reminder to our partners, the City of Nice Côte d'Azur, Nice Airport and TotalEnergies, that only close collaboration between all stakeholders will allow SAF to become the air industry's foremost driver of decarbonisation."
