Lufthansa completes biofuel tests, plans transatlantic biofuel flight

Lufthansa has announced the positive completion of its burnFAIR project, a six-month practical trail of biosynthetic fuel on the airline’s flights. From July 15 to December 27, 2011, a Lufthansa Airbus A321 operated scheduled flights on the Hamburg-Frankfurt route. One of the aircraft’s engines was powered by a 50-50 blend of regular fuel and biosynthetic kerosene. This long-term trial allowed the airline to gather data about the effects of biofuels on the environment and on the maintenance and life time of the aircraft’s engines. In all, 1,187 biofuel flights were operated between Hamburg and Frankfurt. According to initial calculations, CO2 emissions were reduced by 1,471 tons. Total consumption of the biokerosene mix amounted to 1,556 tons. As a culmination of their testing, Lufthansa will operate its first biofuel transatlantic flight, from Frankfurt to Washington, on January 12, 2012.