Exclusive report: KLM operated first ever passenger flight powered by sustainable biokerosene

Monday the 23th of November I was invited by KLM to attend the special event regarding the first partly “bio-fueled” flight with passengers on board. The flight would take off on Schiphol, Amsterdam Airport and fly around the Netherlands for approximately one hour. It’s a demonstration flight with one engine running on a mixture of 50% traditional kerosene and 50% biofuel. The biofuel is not yet certified, but this might be an important step towards a “greener” aviation future. The biofuel is made from Camelina, for more info about this plant click here. The flight would be attended by VIP’s like Peter Hartman (CEO of KLM), Maria van der Hoeven (Minister of Economic Affairs) and many others. In total around 40 people would attend the flight. Armed with just my iPhone I covered the event through my KLM Fan Twitter account, but below here you can read my experiences in sentences longer than 140 characters..

The plane from a distance

Bad weather

Before I would attend the “biofuel event” I first had a little trip around Schiphol East in some hangars. I will write down my experiences later on this blog, but it was really fun to check out the amazing hangars at Schiphol. More of that later. The weather was pretty much horrible: rain, some wind and not a single bit of sunshine made this quite a grey day. But that’s typically the autumn weather you can expect in The Netherlands. Due to my early arrival at Schiphol I was also very early in the KLM Jet Centre, where the press that would attend the event was welcomed.

The Boeing 747 close-up.

Jet Centre

I was there too early and saw the flight crew get their briefing for the flight. After a bit of walking around and the usual “where should I register and get my press pass”-hassle I found the area where the press could eat and drink. After a nice bit of small talk with some “colleagues” (and an interview) we saw some familiar faces like Peter Hartman, Maria van der Hoeven, but also Wim Kuijken (Secretary-General of Public Works and Water Management) and André Kuijpers (Dutch astronaut). I also spoke with a woman from Honeywell, the company that made the biofuel that was used for the flight.

After refusing at least 10 glasses of juice/wine/water and 20 slices of bread (catering was great), it was time for some speeching. Peter Hartman officially welcomed Maria van der Hoeven and talked about the importance of this flight and the future of aviation. Next we (the press that did not attend the flight itself) was directed to a bus that took us to the plane to make some pics and cover the boarding process.

Peter Hartman & Maria van der Hoeven are preparing for boarding the flight

For a cool explanation about KLM and biofuel, check this awesome and informative video about everything regarding KLM and biofuel.

Boarding

Luckily it was all dry now, so we could take some excellent pics of the Boeing 747 that would be used for the flight. The Boeing had a special livery with some “eco” messages on it and ofcourse thanks from the WWF (which were also involved in the process). We could walk all around the plane and enjoy the overwhelming sight of the blue & white plane, while the attendees boarded the flight. The plane left to take-off and the press was taken back to the Jet Center.

In-flight

After arriving most of the press left, however there was still the opportunity to cover a flight moment and the arrival of the 747. I decided to stay and we were taken next to a runway were the plane would do a so called “lowpass”. The airplane would pass the runway on a low altitude to make a nice shot. Unfortunately the rain really started to pour at that moment, which made it a true “survival adventure” outside. Luckily after twenty minutes the plane flew really close over our heads, which was just an amazing experience.

Arrival

We hopped back in the bus and drove through the rain back to the place where the passengers would leave. The airplane landed safely and everybody seemed to have enjoyed the flight. Despite the heavy rain and the fierce winds while leaving the plane, most of the VIP’s haircuts remained in good condition. The event would continue in a hangar nearby, but I decided to go home (as my iPhone was empty as well due to all the live covering). So back to the Jet Centre to take the bus to Schiphol Plaza.

The rain poured from the sky when the plane landed

And now?

The event and the flight were both very succesfull and it was great to see the big Boeing take off, knowing that one engine was running on biofuel. Let’s hope this idea is developed further and that we might see more of these flights in the near future. It was great that KLM launched this initiative and that in the future we can look back at this day and state it was the start of a global change in aviation.

For the full press release from KLM, click here.

Thanks to the KLM Crew for making this report possible. If you want to keep up to date about KLM on Twitter, follow my Twitter account KLMfan

A biofueled smile