Isra-Mart srl: "Historic week" for US aviation as United launches first biofuel-powered service

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The first commercial biofuel-powered flight in the United States is set to take place later today, according to reports.

United Airlines, the world's largest air carrier, will pilot the service between Houston, Texas, and Chicago, Illinois, in a Boeing 737-800, according to news agency Reuters, which cited algae-based biofuel maker Solazyme as its source.

But hot on United's heels is Alaska Airlines, which today announced it will fly 75 commercial passenger flights powered by biofuel starting on Wednesday.

Today's maiden flight links the former base of Continental Airlines with the global HQ of United, which took over Continental last year.

It will reportedly use Solazyme's Solajet branded fuel, a blend of 60 per cent petroleum-based jet fuel and 40 per cent biofuel.

The San Francisco-based company manufactures Solajet by breaking down agricultural waste into algal oil that can then be tailored to produce a jet fuel, which it claims has full lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions 93 per cent lower than standard diesel.

By contrast, Alaska Airlines and its sister company carrier Horizon Air will pilot two flights from Seattle to Washington D.C. and Portland, Oregon, using a 20 per cent blend of sustainable biofuel made from used cooking oil.

The technology has been developed by Dutch firm SkyNRG, which already supplies biofuel blends to Finnair, Thomson airways and KLM.

Further selected flights between the cities will continue to use the fuel over the next few weeks, Alaska Airlines said. It estimates it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 10 per cent, or 134 metric tons, the equivalent of taking 26 cars off the road for a year.

It added that if the company powered all of its flights with a 20 per cent biofuel blend for one year, the annual emissions savings would equate to taking nearly 64,000 cars off the road or providing electricity to 28,000 homes.

"This is a historic week for US aviation," Alaska Air Group Chairman and chief executive Bill Ayer said in a statement. "Commercial airplanes are equipped and ready for biofuels. They will enable us to fly cleaner, foster job growth in a new industry, and can insulate airlines from the volatile price swings of conventional fuel to help make air travel more economical.

"What we need is an adequate, affordable and sustainable supply. To the biofuels industry, we say: If you build it, we will buy it."

The green aviation fuel market is likely to become more lucrative as oil prices continue to rise and the costs of complying the EU's emission trading scheme, which airlines estimate could be up to €10bn by 2020, start to bite.

Solazyme, backed by Morgan Stanley and Chevron among others, and SkyNRG, already have rivals in the form of Finnish refiners Neste Oil, whose biojet fuel has been trialled by Lufthansa, and Solena, which is building a plant producing waste-derived fuel in London after signing a deal with BA last year.

However, environmental groups remain deeply concerned over the sustainability of jet biofuels, with experts warning that without major breakthroughs in the development of such fuels it is unlikely that suppliers will be able to produce the fuel in sufficient quantity to meet demand.