This commercial demo flight represents a first for North America airspace. It also marks the first sustainable biofuel demonstration flight by a commercial carrier using a two-engine aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 equipped with CFM International CFM56-7B engines.

We know your thinking that we’ll have to sacrifice our GMO, herbicide infested corn to create the fuel for us jet setters. These airline peeps got it right by the fact that the biofuel blend includes components derived from algae and jatropha plants, both sustainable, second-generation sources that do not impact food crops or water resources or contribute to deforestation. The algae oil comes via Sapphire Energy, and the jatropha oil by Terasol Energy.

This flight signifies the first time a commercial carrier will power a flight using fuel derived in part from algae. This biofuel blend consist of consists of 50 percent biologically-derived fuel and 50 percent traditional jet fuel, in the No. 2 engine. The aircraft’s No. 1 engine will operate on 100 percent traditional jet fuel, allowing Continental to compare performance between the biofuel blend and traditional fuel. So, think of it as B50 for planes. We can only hope for B100 for planes in the near future.

Even with a 50-50 blend, this biofuel will result in a significant net decrease in carbon emissions in comparison to traditional jet fuel, as both jatropha and algae consume carbon during their lifecycles.

Don’t be pestering your travel agent to book you on a Green Continental flight just yet. This test flight out of Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport lasted about two hours but carried no passengers. We would even sit in the middle seat in economy class between a soon-to-be-divorced couple for the chance to fly in this puppy.  Sure, some airlines talk about selling carbon offsets, recycling on-board and decreasing taxiing time in terms of Green transportation, which we of course support to varying degrees. But here Continental, Boeing, GE Aviation/CFM and UOP have created something tangible with good old American know how (like we used to) with this sustainable biofuel airline flight.

Now if they can only do something about the on-board air quality.

Before we totally write this off as greenwashing, we took a look at their green flight. Emirates created what they call “the most environmentally-sophisticated route and trip possible to help save an estimated 2,000 gallons of fuel and 30,000 pounds of carbon emissions on the 16-hour non-stop service.” The airlines worked with various countries to create a route that heads over Dubai, Russia, Iceland, Canada and the United States and other countries. Maybe these guys should work for the UN. We’ll buy the distance thing. Shorter distance, less fuel, less CO2.

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