MTU Maintenance and LATAM Airlines use sustainable fuels for engine tests

MTU Maintenance has joined forces with LATAM, Latin America’s largest airline, to use sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) in test runs. A V2500 engine of the airline was recently tested at the MTU site in Hannover with a 10% SAF fuel blend. The fuel used is derived from waste fats, oils, and lubricants and produces up to 80% less greenhouse gas emissions per gallon than paraffin over its entire life cycle. Thus, around 0.6 tons of CO2 were saved during the test run. In future tests, the SAF proportion will be increased to up to 50%, which is the maximum limit currently permitted.

“MTU Maintenance is the first maintenance provider in the world to offer test runs with SAF. We are particularly pleased that we have been able to win over our long-standing partner LATAM for this purpose,” says Michael Schreyögg, Chief Program Officer at MTU Aero Engines. “MTU is committed to the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. That’s why we want to operate our sites in Germany in a CO2-neutral manner and support our customers worldwide in their initiatives to combat climate change.”

“We are quite pleased to be working with MTU Maintenance on this ground-breaking initiative,” says Paulo Rimbano Meneghel, Powerplant Director of LATAM. “We want to do our part to protect the planet, the biodiversity of ecosystems, and the well-being of the global population. We recognize the importance of SAFs in the fight against climate change and actively promote the development of these. An important part of our collaboration with MTU Maintenance is the collection of data to ensure that SAF deployment is both safe and useful.”

MTU Maintenance is the world’s largest independent provider of engine maintenance services. Its portfolio includes over 30 engine types, and it has a global maintenance network. It is part of MTU Aero Engines, which has defined common sustainability goals for the entire Group. In order live up to its claim of being a sustainable industrial company, MTU places particular emphasis on responsible and environmentally friendly procurement as well as a safe and attractive working environment. The activities cover six different areas: product, production and maintenance, corporate management, employees, society, and purchasing behavior. In parallel with its initiatives to reduce the climate impact of on-site operations, MTU is working on revolutionary propulsion concepts with the aim of making aviation climate-neutral by 2050.