Virgin plans world's first biofuel flight

LONDON: British airline Virgin Atlantic said on Monday it would run the world’s first commercial jet flight powered by biofuel between London Heathrow and Amsterdam next month.

The Boeing 747 will fly without passengers ten months earlier than initially planned as part of efforts by Virgin, Boeing and GE Aviation to reduce CO2 emissions from aviation.

“This fuel has never been in the air before on a commercial plane, although it’s been tested in engines on the ground in altitude conditions,” said a Virgin spokesman.

Virgin declined to give further details of the source of the fuel, but Boeing has previously been looking at algae as a biofuel source.