Continental Airlines to test biofuels; first US carrier to schedule test flight

Continental Airlines will become the first US airliner to conduct a biofuels test flight. The company announced that, in partnership with GE and Boeing, it would schedule a test biofuels flight in 2008. The companies said that the test would include a different set of feedstocks than those tested in the historic Virgin Atlantic flight, which included babassu and coconut oil.

The companies would test up to 50 percent biodiesel, compared to the B20 blend used in the Virgin flight. Air New Zealand will also be testing feedstocks and blends in a flight scheduled for later this year.

The World Development Movement called the recent Virgin 747 biodiesel test flight a “publicity stunt with dangerous consequences for the planet” and said that Virgin owner Sir Richard Branson “should back a campaign to include aviation in the climate change bill.”

Sir Richard Branson, in remarks surrounding the Virgin 747 biodiesel test flight, said that algae would almost certainly be the feedstock for commercial aviation biofuels, implying that the selection of coconut and babassu oil had been made in light of an algae oil shortage.
In England, Sir Richard Branson announced a new business unit of Virgin Atlantic Airways that would produce algae-based biofuels for the airline’s use. Branson told reporters that algae is the best fuel feedstock because it does not affect food supply. He said that his company is “talking to a lot of sewage plants about setting up algae plants above and using a lot of the CO2 coming off those sewage plants” and said that using CO2 to produce algae for low-emission fuels was a “a double-whammy effect.”

IATA has set a goal of making planes 25 percent more fuel efficient by 2022, and “zero emission” planes within 50 years, but with airlines expected to increase fleet size by 140 percent in the next 20 years, such an effort would not keep pace with the rate of airline fleet growth. Giovanni Bisignani, Director General and CEO of IATA said, “Air transport takes its environmental responsibility seriously. Alongside safety and security it is a pillar on which we have built a great global industry. Despite our good track record, air transport’s carbon footprint is growing. That is not acceptable. Our vision is for air transport to achieve carbon neutral growth in the medium-term, on the way to a carbon emission free future.

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