Continental to Test Biofuel

Continental Airlines will be the first airline to test a biofuel-jet fuel blend in a flight by a commercial carrier with a two engine plane. A Boeing 737-800 will be flown without passengers on January 7th from Houston, with a blend of half algae -jatropha fuel and half conventional jet fuel.

While a biofuel movement has been slowly churning from several years ago for conventional car gasoline, airlines were forced to review their fuel sources when oil prices skyrocketed over the summer. Since fuel prices have been volatile, airlines have been having a difficult time pinpointing a specific price and time to purchase their oil. Because airlines purchase their fuel for several months at one time, even if prices drop for a week or so, it rarely has an impact on the prices the airlines pay. Fuel remains one of the highest expenses for an airline - for example, an average Continental flight of 1,000 miles will consume 18 gallons per person.

Continental wanted to make sure their new biofuel would not only decrease emissions, but also be actually sustainable, which is the reason behind the algae-jatropha combination, unlike other fuels such as corn. In addition, the airline expects that the results from the flight should show that the biofuel will perform just as well as traditional jet fuel in terms of performance and safety.

While other airlines are also moving towards testing biofuels around the world, Continental will be the first large carrier to do so. It will be interesting to see if a biofuel blend would become the standard of airline fuel in the future.