Green Travel: Qantas Is The Latest Airline To Announce Biofuel Flight

Beleaguered Australian airline Qantas might have boosted its image Monday when it announced that it is going to launch a flight using sustainable fuel. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said that the flight, scheduled for early 2012, will be the first of its kind in Australia, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

"We want the flight to be an inspiration, a preview of a sustainable future for Australian aviation," Joyce told members of the press.

According to News.com.au, the flight will be "powered by the equivalent of cooking oil." Qantas has signed agreements with two manufacturers of alternative airplane fuels: Solazyme, which is developing algae-based fuels and Solena, which is testing water-based fuels.

Qantas has been under scrutiny lately due to a heated labor dispute in the company. In late October, the airline was forced to ground its flights due to strikes, but its flight schedule returned to normal shortly thereafter when an Australian court intervened. Labor negotiations resumed earlier this month.

Though Qantas might be Australia's first carrier to test a biofuel flight, according to The Sydney Morning Herald Virgin is hot on its heels. Sir Richard Branson's company hopes to have an Australian-based testing facility in 2013, with commercial scale production the following year. It also announced in October that a new low-carbon aviation fuel was in the works for Virgin Atlantic.

Recently, UK-based Thomson Airways launched a flight using alternative fuels in October. It was the first UK airline to fly passengers using biofuel.

The use of biofuels by airlines has become a major trend in the industry. Other airlines to use or test sustainable fuels include KLM, Lufthansa, Finnair, Aeromexico, United and Alaska Airlines.

Comments

[onionboy]

10:39 PM on 11/14/2011

Biofuel.

Or as developing nations like to call it...food.

[Anne Mccormick]

11:31 PM on 11/14/2011

ok, choice one; airlines continue to use the jet fuel they've been using for years. choice two; airlines use Biofuel. you choose.

[onionboy]

12:10 AM on 11/15/2011

If those are the only choices you're giving me, I'll say yes to the old sloppy dirty oil-based jet fuel. So far, existing biofuels have only been found to be energy negative...not even neutral. Add to that the fact they use arable land to make fuel instead of food, and the decision is pretty easy for me. I wish it weren't so, and maybe one day it will be made out of waste instead of food...but that ain't today.

[Genders]

09:32 PM on 11/14/2011

WASTE bio fuels are the future. Bio fuels from virgin crops or arable land competing with food are a dead end.

[alexj]

02:31 PM on 11/15/2011

Waste biofuels are only a significant part of the future if we manage to drastically improve conservation and efficiency. There is simply not enough supply to satisfy anywhere near today's consumption levels. For now, the best we can do is get a modest energy gain (and a bit less net carbon accumulation) from today's best production methods, and hope algae fuels can overcome substantial obstacles to being commercially scalable. Although it's good to see some industry toe-dipping, I have to agree with other commentary that these moves aren't very meaningful when airlines are running (and even adding) FAR more fossil-fueled flights.

[Genders]

04:53 PM on 11/15/2011

Yes, agreed, efficiency, probably cut it in half, then convert to plug in hybrids for 90% of our short trips travel fuel use.

Waste Bio Char has a very high gain. Is carbon negative when using the char are fertilizer, it produces gas and oil.

Waste bio char solves many problems at the same time.
http://climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/4/planId/14637

Corn ethanol is terrible and should be stopped.

[Kenz300]

04:27 PM on 11/14/2011

The oil and coal lobby is massive... they do not want any competition.

We did not do enough risk reduction before the financial crisis.

Will we do risk reduction before the energy crisis? We need to diversify our energy sources and types.

[Kenz300]

04:24 PM on 11/14/2011

The era of cheap oil is over.....

Those that believe PEAK OIL theory say rising demand from China and India will soon outpace the worlds ability to supply ever greater amounts of oil raising the price for all.

It is time to transition to safe, clean alternative energy. Wind, solar wave energy, geothermal and second generation biofuels made from algae, cellulose and waste are the future. The world produces a lot of trash every day. That trash can now be turned into fuel, energy and raw materials for new products. We need to move to a more sustainable energy supply.

[OkieMon]

12:00 PM on 11/14/2011

alll this motion.....cars...trucks....airplanes could be fueled by bioenergy.....the very first internal combustion engine was designed to run on a biofuel...turpentine....only the fossil fuel monopoly and their republican cohorts prevented this..."competition is a sin"....john d rockefeller

[alexj]

03:02 PM on 11/15/2011

I'd like to see your figures. Society has become incredibly energy-intensive. If we want today's biofuels to be a greater part of the mix, we have lots of work to do, reducing consumption and transitioning what we can to low-carbon electric. Then there might be more fuel of high energy density available for applications like heavy planes and trains, that really need it.