Dubai National Air Travel Agency brands switch to Neutral Fuels-supplied biodiesel blends in UAE

Dubai National Air Travel Agency and its brands, including DNATA Logistics, Arabian Adventures, Alpha Flight Services and City Sightseeing, have begun running vehicles across operations in the United Arab Emirates on a blend of biodiesel supplied by local biodiesel producer Neutral Fuels.

Karl Feilder, the founder and chief technology officer of Dubai-based Neutral Fuels, told Biobased Diesel Daily that his company is supplying a B7 blend of its used cooking oil-based biodiesel directly to DNATA.

According to DNATA, the strategic move to B7 saves 80 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year, equivalent to over 320,000 kilometers driven by an average gasoline-powered car.

DNATA said this latest initiative is part of the company’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and waste to landfill by 20 percent by 2024 in line with its two-year green-operations strategy.

In June 2022, DNATA announced it would invest USD$100 million in green operations in two years to further enhance its environmental efficiency globally.

“We constantly explore and implement emission-reduction methods across our fleet and infrastructure to reduce our carbon footprint,” said Steve Allen, CEO of DNATA Group. “The introduction of biofuel to a diverse range of our UAE businesses is an important step in our ongoing journey. It offers a simple and effective method of cutting emissions throughout the fuel lifecycle, without requiring any changes to equipment. We will continue to invest in our operations, including large-scale infrastructure solutions, to further enhance our sustainability performance and achieve our green-operations targets.”

DNATA Logistics has switched 31 of its trucks to be run on the B7 biodiesel blend at its Dubai-based hub. Providing multimodal freight forwarding, logistics, supply chain and road transport services, its trucks cover up to a total of 217,000 kilometers per month. The move saves almost 35 tons of CO2 emissions per year.

City Sightseeing Dubai, a joint venture with DNATA Travel Group, operates three tour routes, providing elevated viewing of Dubai’s top attractions, through the use of 21 open-top, biofueled buses. These cover an average 76,000 kilometers per month, removing over 32 tons of CO2 emissions each year.

Alpha Flight Services, DNATA’s inflight-catering joint venture, has already switched five landside vehicles to the biofuel blend and is also in the process of transitioning all of its Sharjah-based airside catering trucks. Alpha now sends its used cooking oil to Neutral Fuels and once recycled, it is then reused within its vehicles. Research shows that one liter of oil recycled into biodiesel avoids the emissions of 3 kilograms of CO2, a reduction of 92 percent compared to diesel-fuel use. Alpha’s vehicles cover over 27,000 kilometers per month, supporting the company’s extensive catering operations that create over 25,000 meals a day.

Arabian Adventures has also switched the generators at its desert-safari camps to B7 biodiesel.