On the 11th October 2009 Qatar Airways flew the first commercial flight powered by synthetic jet fuel made partly from natural gas. The aircraft used for the flight was an Airbus A340-600 using Rolls-Royce Trent 556 engines.
The gas-based portion of the fuel used in the 6-hour flight from London to Doha came from a Shell gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in Malaysia. The gas was a roughly 50:50 blend of GTL kerosene and standard jet fuel, a mix that has won regulatory blessing.
Liquid fuels made from natural gas contain lower concentrations of sulphur and particulate contaminants that contribute to air pollution when the fuel is burned.