Green Options » air new zealand

Air New Zealand’s Biofuel Flight Cuts Emissions By 65%

Jerry James Stone — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:12:30 +0000

At the Eco-Aviation Conference in Washington, Air New Zealand’s Chief Pilot Captain David Morgan announced the company’s findings on a test flight from last December. Powered by a combination of biofuel and jet fuel, the test resulted in a fuel savings of 1.2%. It also cut CO2 emissions by over 60%!

While a 1.2% fuel savings doesn’t seem like much, that is over 1 ton of fuel!

The test was conducted using a commercial 747-400 fitted with Rolls Royce engines. Rolls Royce had certified the fuel — a 50:50 blend of standard Jet A1 fuel and synthetic paraffinic kerosene derived from jatropha oil.

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Japan Airlines 747 Makes First Ever Flight on Camelina Biofuel

Dave Tyler — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 22:11:17 +0000

There’s another player in the race to make aviation biofuel: camelina.

A Japan Airlines Boeing 747-300 took off from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Friday, with an engine powered by a biofuel made primarily from camelina, making JAL the first airline to test fly the fuel. The fuel was a mix of camelina (84 percent), jatropha, (16 percent) and algae (less than 1 percent), marking the 1.5 hour flight as the first demonstration flight powered by biofuel made from three feedstocks.

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First Commercial Jet Flight Using Jatropha Biodiesel a Success

Nick Chambers — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:13:07 +0000

After postponing the flight for about a month, Air New Zealand has become the first airline to test a 50/50 blend of second generation jatropha biodiesel and standard A1 jet fuel in a Boeing 747-400 passenger jet. The company has hailed the test as a milestone for commercial aviation.

The flight lasted two hours and ran one of the plane’s Rolls-Royce engines on the jatropha biodiesel blend. Air New Zealand has previously stated that they want to become the world’s most sustainable airline and hopes that by 2013, 10% of its flights will be powered by biofuel blends such as the jatropha biodiesel blend used in this test flight.

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Air New Zealand Schedules First Commercial Biofuel Flight

Nick Chambers — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:13:41 +0000

On December 3rd, Air New Zealand will be the first commercial airline to power one of its jets with a second generation non-food biofuel made from the Jatropha plant. Jatropha is viewed as having a huge potential as a major source of oil for sustainable biofuel production.

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Airlines Looking for Alternatives: Air New Zealand Tests Biofuels

Courtney Carlisle — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:41:44 +0000

Recently, Virgin Airlines garnered a lot of support and criticism for their announcement that they would be experimenting with biofuels. Now, Air New Zealand has annoucned that it will begin testing a new generation of biofuel this year. With the goal of converting a portion of its domestic fleet to run on the renewable fuel source within five years, the airline will be the first in the world to test a biofuel derived from jatropha, a bush grown in India that produces seeds with a high oil content.

An airline spokesperson commented that early tests showed biofuels cost about half the price of normal aviation fuel and produced half of the environmental emissions. Of course, regulators will have to approve the fuel for “safety” before they can officially convert the fleet, but rising prices for aviation fuel and falling support of the airline industry are spurring the search for an alternative.

This is just a preliminary step and is in a research phase. Alternatives to the jatropha plant, such as algae, exist. Not to mention, availability and infrastructure for international as well as domestic flights doesn’t currently exist and won’t until airlines and fueling companies are able to reach an agreement.