The world’s first commercial aviation test flight powered by a sustainable second-generation biofuel is ready to go next Wed. Dec. 3, 2008. The jatropha fuel has now been blended 50:50 with standard Jet A1 fuel by Air New Zealand at its Auckland Engineering Base. The biofuel blend, named J50, has now been transferred into an RNZAF fuel tanker ready to fuel the Air New Zealand Boeing 747-400 early next week. The two-hour test flight is scheduled to take off from Auckland airport on Wednesday morning December 3, with the jatropha biofuel blend powering one of the Air New Zealand Boeing 747-400’s Rolls-Royce RB211 engines.
The test flight is a joint initiative between Air New Zealand, Boeing, Rolls-Royce and UOP, with support from Terasol Energy, as part of commercial aviation’s drive for more sustainable air travel for future generations.
