New Delhi, August 27:  The government is all set to roll out a bio-ATF (aviation turbine fuel) policy soon, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan informed on Monday. "The Petroleum Ministry will soon bring a bio-ATF (aviation turbine fuel) policy. In the coming days, bio-energy will be the focus", Pradhan said. On Monday, India's first test flight powered by bio-fuel and operated by SpiceJet landed at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport.

The flight was received by Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Nitin Gadkari,  Suresh Prabhu and others. A total of 75% aviation turbine fuel and 25% biofuel used in this aircraft. The  SpiceJet flight took off from Dehradun and landed in the national capital. "First time in India a test flight has been flown from Dehradun to New Delhi with blended bio jet fuel", Pradhan said in a tweet.

The Petroleum Minister congratulated the BioFuel Working Group of his ministry, IIT Kanpur, CSIR, Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, Chhattisgarh Biofuel Development Authority CBDA, Department of Science & Technology (DST), DGCA and the budget carrier SpiceJet for their commendable work.

Presently, bio-fuel powered flights are operated in Canada. Reports inform that the development here, in India, assumes significance as high air turbine fuel (ATF) prices have dented the nation's domestic airline sector with all the major players reporting losses for the first quarter of 2018-19.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 27, 2018 03:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).