Airline operators are scrambling for new forms of fuel to power their jets without causing harmful carbon emissions. One smelly solution could be the

Human feces could power your Wizz Air flight within 4 years as world’s first commercial operation planned in the U.K.

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2024-04-16 08:00:03

Airline operators are scrambling for new forms of fuel to power their jets without causing harmful carbon emissions. One smelly solution could be the use of human feces.

Hungarian budget airline Wizz Air has announced plans to run 10% of its flights with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by 2030, and it is turning to U.K.-based biofuel company Firefly, which turns sewage sludge into jet fuel, to make it happen.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Firefly CEO James Hygate described the biosolids used by the group as “kind of disgusting” but “an amazing resource.”

Firefly takes sewage sludge and converts it into two materials: biochar and bio-crude. The latter can be transformed into jet fuel, while the former has agricultural uses.

Wizz Air first announced a £5 million ($6.3 million) equity investment in Firefly last year, as part of its move to reduce its carbon footprint.

Sustainable jet fuel has proved a tough nut to crack, leaving operators in a race to comply with regulators as the EU plots a minimum of 20% of jet fuel to qualify as SAF by 2035, rising to 70% by 2050.