BERLIN: Dutch carrier KLM on Thursday launched the first in a series of 80 flights from Oslo to Amsterdam using a biofuels blend to power an Embraer E190 jet, in a boost for the biofuels industry that has been held back by weak oil prices.
The flights will run over a period of five to six weeks and use about 200 tons of blended biofuel in a mix of 47 percent neat biofuel and 53 percent fossil fuel, according to SkyNRG, which sources, blends and distributes sustainable jet fuel.
Oslo Airport became the first airport in the world to offer jet biofuels to all airlines in January and Lufthansa Group was the first to sign up to use a biofuels mix in its flights from the Norwegian capital. It plans to fuel around 5,000 flights over the course of a year.
KLM, part of the Franco-Dutch Air France-KLM group, said its limited number of flights using biofuel was restricted by its budget and the amount of fuel that was available.
The flights are being partly funded by partners in the KLM Corporate BioFuel Program, including the City of Amsterdam and Dutch companies such as ABN Amro and Heineken.
“After those flights we will evaluate and see what is the next step,” a spokeswoman said.
Europe is targeting annual production of 2 million tons of sustainably produced biofuel for civil aviation by 2020, but authorities say limited production means it is unlikely this goal will be reached.
KLM trials biofuel-powered flights between Amsterdam and Oslo
