The picture shows a Garuda Indonesia plane parked at Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Tangerang on May 14, 2022. (PHOTO / AFP)

JAKARTA -- Indonesia's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia said on Friday that it succeeded in flying a commercial passenger plane using aviation fuel blended with palm oil, the company's president director said.

The Boeing 737-800NG aircraft with more than 100 people aboard took off from the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Banten province on Friday to the Adi Soemarmo International Airport in Central Java, about 550 km away.

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"This is the first time. After having carried out a successful trial, we used biofuel for a commercial flight," Garuda Indonesia President Director Irfan Setiaputra said at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

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The alternative jet fuel is produced by Indonesia's state-owned energy firm PT Pertamina. Indonesia conducted its first test flight with a similar type of fuel on a plane in 2021.

As the world's biggest producer of palm oil, the Southeast Asian country is making efforts to widen the use of biofuels to cut fuel imports.