Airlines want Australasian governments to do more for aviation biofuels

Airlines are calling on the Australian and New Zealand governments to provide financial assistance to help grow the aviation biofuel industry.

Qantas, Air New Zealand, Boeing and Virgin Australia, all members of the Sustainable Fuel Users Group, helped to create a biofuels roadmap which shows how the region can work towards building a more environmentally-friendly sector.

Qantas head of risk and resilience, John Valastro, says that by increasing the amount of aviation biofuels available on the market it will enable Australia to move towards a low-carbon economy.

The report says that without financial assistance from the government, however, it will be difficult to overcome technological and market uncertainties and competition from other users of biomass resources.

Already, Qantas has created two small-scale pacts to buy biofuel from Solazyme and Solena, two US renewable energy companies.

Virgin Australia also says it will shortly announce its own partnerships with biofuel companies.