VIRGIN ATLANTIC IS THE FIRST AIRLINE TO OPERATE DEMONSTRATION FLIGHT USING A BIOFUEL BLEND
On 24 February 2008, Virgin Atlantic became the first airline in the world to operate a commercial aircraft on a biofuel blend. The Boeing 747 flew a short flight from London to Amsterdam, using a 20% biofuel/80% kerosene blend in one of its four engines.
A change is in the air.
Whilst the biofuel we used for our demo flight probably isn’t what will be used by the industry long-term, we wanted to make a visible demonstration of our commitment to find a sustainable alternative to traditional crude-oil based kerosene. We proved to a sometimes sceptical industry that it is possible to replicate the very strict performance characteristics of normal jet fuel (e.g. a -47C freeze point so it can cope at altitude and a high energy density) using a combination of coconut oil and babassu nut oil, both sustainably cultivated crops.
Sustainable biofuel must be environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.
 |  | Within the next decade we expect to see a significant contribution from second generation biofuels, made from truly sustainable second generation feedstocks such as algae or using waste biomass like woodchips, towards aviation’s fuel needs. We're defining "sustainable" here in the broadest sense - environmentally (has lower life cycle carbon emissions and doesn’t cause deforestation), socially (doesn’t compete with staple food crops) and economically (it has to be available in viable quantities). And with the aviation industry soon to be included in the European Emissions Trading Scheme and paying for our carbon emissions going forwards, it makes great business sense to investigate lower carbon alternatives to existing technologies.
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Using a sustainable biofuel blend can help to reduce carbon emissions in the short to medium term.
We all take the social and economic benefits of aviation for granted - we live in an increasingly internationalised society with friends and family all over the world - and aviation plays a crucial role in economic growth, particularly in the developing world. But we need to make sure that we also take into account the climate change impacts of aviation; a small but fast growing contributor to manmade greenhouse gas emissions.
We're not saying that biofuels alone are the answer. But, as new aircraft technologies can take a couple of decades or more to be rolled out across airlines' fleets, a "drop in" lower carbon alternative to traditional kerosene - which requires no technical modifications to the aircraft or fuel systems - can provide a really useful short to medium term opportunity for the industry to reduce its emissions.
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