HondaJet Flies On 100% SAF In October, Honda Aircraft Company announced that it flew one of its HondaJets on 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). This made it the first twin-turbine very light business jet manufacturer to utilize the HondaJet on a successful test flight running a 100% blend. A production-model HondaJet was fueled with a mix of Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene (HEFA-SPK) and Hydrodeoxygenated Synthetic Aromatic Kerosene (HDO-SAK) fuels and flew over the Greensboro area before successfully landing at the company’s world headquarters at Piedmont Triad International Airport.
This hasn't happened in isolation as the Honda team has been working on getting the HondaJet to be able to fly on 100% SAF. Currently HondaJets are approved to fly on up to 50% SAF blends. However, going back to the last couple of years, there has been extensive ground-based testing of the GE engine that powers the HondaJet, the GE Honda Aero HF120 using 100% SAF. However, as announced by the Honda Aircraft Company, this was the first time an actual HondaJet flew on 100% SAF. GE Honda Aero successfully completed tests of the HF120 engine on the ground utilizing 100% SAF fuel blends in 2022 and 2023.
“We are immensely proud of our Honda Aircraft Company engineering team carrying forward our commitment to the future of aviation by demonstrating that the HondaJet is capable of operating on a 100% SAF blend,” said Amod Kelkar, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Honda Aircraft Company. “This achievement is a step toward aligning our business activities with the global Honda goal of decarbonizing our business activities by 2050.”
This realization of the real-world usage of full-percentage blends of SAF ties in with Honda Aircraft Company's efficiency goals for the jet. It -the HondaJet platform- already enables it to have held status for the last ten years as the most efficient jet in its class. The HondaJet design focused on maintaining laminar flow across the aircraft, which offers up to a 20% improvement in fuel economy over comparable aircraft. Honda Aircraft Company was awarded Sustainable Flight Department Accreditation from the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) in October 2024. For more information: Honda Aircraft Company Greensboro, NC United States of America www.hondajet.com ***
