Qatar Airways made aviation history by operating the first commercial passenger flight using GTL fuel (gas to liquid).The historic journey from London Gatwick to Doha took over six hours and was operated with an Airbus A340-600 aircraft using Rolls-Royce Trent 556 engines.

The pre-flight London Gatwick reception.

The wonder fuel is a blend of conventional kerosene and GTL kerosene, developed by a consortium comprising of some major players involved in the aviation industry like Shell, Qatar Airways, Airbus, Rolls Royce. The GTL fuel is an alternative to the oil-based kerosene and it will greatly benefit the environment. It burns with lower sulphur dioxide and particulate emissions than pure conventional oil-based kerosene, making it attractive for improving local air quality at busy airports. Another good news is that aircraft operating under GTL fuel will have reduced fares.

The GTL kerosene will be produced in commercial quantities by the Pearl GTL project, currently under construction by Qatar Petroleum and Shell. The project is expected to produce around one million tonnes per annum of GTL kerosene from 2012, enough to power a typical commercial airliner for half a billion kilometres (equivalent to carrying 250 passengers around the world 4,000 times) when used in a 50 per cent blend to make GTL Jet Fuel. GTL Jet Fuel, with GTL kerosene up to 50 per cent, was fully and unconditionally approved as safe for use in civil aviation by ASTM International (originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials) last month.

Qatar airways are looking to shift to using GTL fuel for its entire fleet in a phased manner. Sources report that flights from Kochi will also start using GTL fuel in the near future. This will really bring down costs for air travel and change the whole industry at a go.