Virgin and Boeing organising world's first biofuel flight
Sunday, 24 Feb 2008 11:38
The flight will not have any passengers on board
Virgin and Boeing are jointly organising the world's first flight to be partly powered by biofuel.
The Boeing 747 will take off from London's Heathrow airport today on a flight to Amsterdam in what is being seen as an experiment into developing more environmentally-friendly sources of aircraft fuel.
Virgin says the flight, which will have no passengers on board, will be using a "truly sustainable" biofuel which will not divert resources away form food sources.
The airline's president Sir Richard Branson said: "This breakthrough will help Virgin Atlantic to fly its planes using clean fuel sooner than expected.
"The demonstration flight will give us crucial knowledge that we can use to dramatically reduce our carbon footprint."
Speaking to BBC News 24, he said that the new fuel would help curb emissions and experiments would look into how the fuel coped with high altitude conditions.
He said: "It's not necessarily going to be the silver bullet for the long term future but it will prove that a fuel like this can fly at 30,000 feet."
Environmental group Friends of the Earth did not welcome the move saying that the new fuel would not help curb carbon emissions.
The organisation's aviation campaigner, Kenneth Richter, said: "Biofuels are a major distraction in the fight against climate change. There is mounting evidence that the carbon savings from biofuels are negligible.
"If Virgin was really serious about reducing the aviation industry's impact on the environment it would support calls for aircraft emissions to be included in the Climate Change Bill," he added.