Speaking at a media event in Sydney, Julie Kitcher, chief sustainability officer at Airbus, said a “basket of measures” is needed to promote more use of SAF, including a mandate that can be “phased in slowly and then uplifted”.
VH-X4F, which touched down in Canberra on 3 April, is the sixth A220 in the Qantas fleet, and flew passengers for the first time as QF1271 from Canberra to Melbourne on Monday.
The partnership marks the latest step in Qantas and Airbus’ wider US$200 million joint initiative launched in 2022, aimed at fast-tracking SAF production.
The aircraft will be joined by a damaged Australian Army Bushmaster protected mobility vehicle (previously gifted to Ukraine) and a C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft in Anzac Hall as part of a $500 million redevelopment for the national museum.
It comes after Virgin Orbit in 2022 unveiled a similar ambition to turn Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport into a “horizontal launch” spaceport, before the firm collapsed following the failure of its first landmark launch in the UK.
Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures (HFSA), Australia’s largest seaplane operator, offered employment to the pilots during the “highly competitive” accreditation program.
