Akasa, BPCL fly Mumbai-Goa service with 1% sustainable fuel blend

Akasa Air and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) said they operated a Mumbai-Goa commercial service using aviation turbine fuel blended with 1% sustainable aviation fuel.

The aircraft departed Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport at 1.05pm and arrived at Manohar International Airport in Mopa at 2.30pm. Akasa and BPCL said they collected operational and fuel-performance data during the flight, which followed a memorandum of understanding signed by the companies in July.

The partnership is intended to test and scale sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and develop a commercial distribution framework at major Indian aviation hubs. The flight also aligns with India’s target of a 5% mandatory SAF blend by 2030.

Akasa chief financial officer Ankur Goel said scaling the fuel would need coordinated action, domestic supply, enabling policy and commercial viability. BPCL marketing director Subhankar Sen said feedstock availability and aggregation remain challenges for a domestic SAF ecosystem.

The partners said they will use the flight data for further SAF testing and distribution planning.