Race for Scale: United, Alaska Airlines Launch Commercial Aviation Biofuels Flights

This morning in Texas, United Airlines will operate the first U.S. commercial flight powered by advanced biofuel, utilizing Solazyme Solajet fuel, on Monday, November 7.

UA Flight 1403 will depart from United’s hub at Bush Intercontinental Airport (the heart of big oil) and fly to the airline’s hub at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. The aircraft is a United Boeing 737-800 Eco-Skies aircraft, and Continental pilots will be at the helm.

The flight departs Bush at 10:25 am CT from terminal C, and lands at Chicago O’Hare at 1:01pm CT, typically arriving at United’s Terminal 1.

The fuel, produced by Solazyme, is a 40/60 blend of sustainable biofuel and traditional petroleum-derived jet fuel. Solazyme’s renewable oils were upgraded into Solafuel by Honeywell’s UOP.

Meanwhile, in Washington state, Alaska Airlines will launch the first commercial, biofuel-powered regularly scheduled flight service in the United States on Wednesday, November 9th.  The flights will run from Seattle to Washington, D.C., and between Seattle and Portland. The maiden flight will leave Seattle on November 9 to Washington, D.C.

Alaska Airlines will fly 75 commercial passenger flights in the United States, in this series, powered by biofuel. Alaska Airlines and its sister carrier, Horizon Air, will continue to operate select flights between Seattle and the two cities over the next few weeks using a 20 percent blend of sustainable biofuel made from used cooking oil that meets rigorous international safety and sustainability standards.

“This is a historic week for U.S. aviation. The 75 flights that Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air will fly over the next few weeks reflect our longstanding commitment to environmental responsibility and our belief that sustainable biofuels are key to aviation’s future,” Alaska Air Group Chairman and CEO Bill Ayer said. “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.”

Used cooking oil – fry, the friendly skies

The flights – using a 20 percent biofuel blend, produced by Dynamic Fuels from made used cooking oil. Alaska’s 75 flights are a major step in showing the long-term feasibility of sustainable biofuels and will introduce Alaska’s customers to the next generation of clean fuels.

It’s just about the ultimate renewable fuel feedstock — waste veggie oil, that is.  But there’s only so much used cooking oil around. Long-term, it’s a key smaller component, but not a major driver of aviation biofuels at scale.

You’ve come a long way, baby

Just two years ago, Continental Airlines, also departing from Bush Intercontinental, operated the first U.S.-based aviation biofuels test flight, using an aviation biofuel made up of 50 percent conventional fuel, 47 percent jatropha from Terasol, and 3 percent algae-based biofuel from Sapphire, working in partnership with UOP.

In June, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines became the first airline in the world to operate a commercial flight carrying 171 passengers on aviation biofuels. Flight KL1233 — a Boeing 737-800 — took off this afternoon at 12:30 hours from Schiphol bound for Charles de Gaulle in Paris carrying 171 passengers.

In July, Thomson Airways announced that it will fly its Birmingham to Palma on 28th July 2011 using sustainable aviation biofuels supplied by the KLM fuel consortium, SkyNRG. This will be the first commercial flight from the UK flown using aviation biofuels.

Also in July, In Germany, Lufthansa became the world’s first airline to offer routine flights powered by biofuel. The airline now operates four daily round trips between Hamburg and Frankfurt. The Airbus A321 planes will use a biofuel blend of 50 percent hydrotreated renewable jet fuel made from feedstocks such as inedible plants and wood chips.

Later that month, Finnair announced plans to operate flights powered by biofuel. The airline will operated a biofuel flight between Amsterdam Schiphol and Helsinki in the week of July 18th, using either an Airbus A319 or A320 aircraft. Both engines ran on a 50 percent blend of biofuel produced from recycled vegetable oil and kerosene, and were refuelled at Amsterdam Schiphol airport.

In September, Mexico’s largest airline, Aeromexico, began using a 25 percent biofuel mixture on its flights from Mexico City to San Jose, Costa Rica.

In October, Spanish national airline Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA flew the country’s first commercial flight using a 25 percent blend of biojet fuel made from camelina. The inaugural flight using an Airbus A320 flew from Madrid to Barcelona.

Last week, Air China in partnership with Boeing, conducted China’s first sustainable biofuel flight. The two-hour mainland flight from Beijing Capital International Airport was witnessed by officials from both countries and highlights the viability of using sustainable aviation biofuel sourced in China. PetroChina, working with Honeywell’s UOP, sourced and refined the China-grown, jatropha-based biofuel.

Aviation: a Quick Win for clean energy, biofuels

In Copenhagen last month, a coalition of companies and associations involved in aviation biofuels made a strong case for the sector not only as a quick win for biofuels, but as a quick win for clean energy as a whole.

Pitching Martin Lidegaard, the incoming Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Building over a working lunch, Paul Steele, executive director of the Air Transport Action Group made the quick-win case.

“Aviation is hard at work with a spectrum of activities to reduce environmental impact. But we see aviation biofuels as a quick win. First, we have just 1700 airports as fuel points, versus distributing to and possibly retrofitting hundreds of thousands of gas stations around the world. Second, aviation biofuels involve no infrastructure change — they drop right into the existing engines. Third, you have a sector that has done everything it can to do the flight tests, the certifications, sustainability groups, and even participating with investment in biofuels, to stimulate production.”