Air NZ and Virgin Australia announce biofuel project

Air NZ and Virgin Australia have linked up to investigate whether environmentally-friendly aviation biofuel can be produced locally to put in their planes' fuel tanks. The alliance partners have issued a "request for information" to the market to explore the opportunity to procure locally-produced aviation biofuel. Captain David Morgan, Air NZ's chief flight operations and safety officer, said the move was a part of the airline's carbon management programme. "By working in partnership with our alliance partner Virgin Australia we hope we can stimulate the local market, drive innovation and investment and potentially uncover a sustainable biofuel supply suitable for our respective operations," he said. One aviation consultant said biofuels held promise for the future, but were not yet economic due the current cheap price of oil. <br/>