Air New Zealand conducts biofuels experimental flight with B747

On 30 December 2008 an Air New Zealand B747-400 conducted a flight from Auckland using a 50:50 fuel mix of Jet A1 and biofuel to power one of its four engines (see a media release and here for details). The biofuel concerned came from the jatropha plant (see previous post). Boeing, Rolls Royce, Terasol Energy and Honeywell's UOP were involved in the test.

The test flight, which was said to be successful, received international media coverage including:

• New York Times blog
• the International Herald Tribune
• the Guardian
• the Daily Express
• Greentech Media

Enviro.aero (from ATAG) carried a number of blog postings (see here, Update, Update 2, Update 3 and Update 4).