The first commercial aircraft to use biofuel has flown from London to Amsterdam. (Sky News Sunday 24th February 2008)One of the four main fuel tanks of the Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 demonstration flight - with no passengers on board - was filled with 20% biofuel mix of coconut and babassu oil.
The demonstration had been part of a major initiative among some airlines and Boeing to discover sources of sustainable aircraft fuel for the future.
Virgin Atlantic president, Sir Richard Branson, told Sky News political editor Adam Boulton: "What we are trying to prove is something that most people have said is impossible... for biofuels to be used in current day jet engines at 30,000 feet."
He said most experts claimed it would freeze - but Sir Richard said: "We've been working with GE and Boeing over the past year to prove them wrong and we've actually found that we can use up to 40% biofuel mix in conventional jet engines."
The fuel used was obtained from the natural resources of babassu nuts and coconuts, which he says are currently going to waste on the ground. But it is planned that in time "we'll start growing algae from things like sewage treatment plants and stop the carbon going out into the Earth's atmosphere.
