Article from BTNews 8 OCTOBER 2018
Virgin joins biofuel club
The growing trend toward the use of biofuel in commercial aviation took another step last week with the arrival at Gatwick of a Virgin Atlantic Orlando flight operated by a Boeing B747 using it.
With founder Sir Richard Branson greeting passengers on arrival, the airline immediately called on the UK government to commit to making sustainable fuel a commercial reality.
The B747 used a batch of fuel produced by LanzaTech, which produces it by recycling waste industrial gases such as those that come from steel making and other heavy industrial processes.
Sir Richard said: "Long-haul travel is more important than ever for connecting people and it's our responsibility to ensure we're doing that in the most sustainable way possible.
“Working with LanzaTech will enable us to reduce our carbon emissions drastically and at the same time help to support UK industry. We are excited to showcase this fuel on its first commercial flight as we plan for the world's first full-scale jet fuel plant.”
LanzaTech says it could have three plants running in the UK by 2025, producing up to 125m gallons of sustainable fuel a year – enough to fly all Virgin Atlantic's UK outbound flights as a 50:50 mix.
(See also 'Biofuel marches on', BTN 24 September).
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