Within 5 years, says CEO Norm Thompson (I love the quote in there, I italicized it). They're stealing some thunder from Virgin Atlantic. Article here.
Air NZ to test biofuel
AIR New Zealand says will test a new
generation of biofuel before the end of this year, and aims to convert
some of its domestic fleet to using the greener fuel source within five
years.
Air NZ deputy chief executive Norm Thompson said
the airline would later this year be the first in the world to test a
second generation biofuel made from jatropha, a bush grown in India
that produces seeds with a high oil content.
"We are absolutely committed to this. Our goal within the
organisation is certainly to get into a position where we could run if
not all, certainly part of our domestic fleet on biofuels," Mr Thompson
said.
"Believe you me, this is happening quicker than we had planned. It
is really advancing quite quickly and the way Jet A-1 (airline fuel) is
priced at the moment, at $US172, it gives a hell of a lot of people a
hell of a lot of encouragement to get on and make it happen bloody
quickly," he said.
He said early work showed biofuels cost about half the price of
normal aviation fuel, and produced only 50 per cent of the
environmental emissions.
Mr Thompson said Air NZ aimed to convert at least part of its
domestic fleet to using biofuels in five years, but it was hard to know
when this would occur, because regulators had to first approve such a
fuel for safety.
He said he hoped ultimately for long-haul flights to be powered
using biofuels, but this was made more difficult because of the
challenges in sourcing the same fuels at overseas destinations.
The jatropha-based fuel Air NZ was experimenting with is a different
type of biofuel to that used by a Virgin Atlantic plane in February
when it became the first commercial airline to use biofuel.
"The fuel that we are looking at at the moment is one of a couple of
biofuels ... The other one which we think has probably got some
potential going forward is from algae," Mr Thompson said.
From correspondents in Rotorua
May 28, 2008 10:47am
