Lufthansa finishes biofuels trial and says there’ll be no more

Lufthansa says it has finished its six month trial with biosynthetic fuel, during which time more than 1,000 biofuel flights were successfully flown between Hamburg and Frankfurt.

However, the airline is ending its trials because it is unable to find reliable suppliers for its aviation biofuels.

‘As a next step, we will focus on the suitability, availability, sustainability and certification of raw materials. But first we must tap into this market. However, Lufthansa will only continue the practical trial if we are able to secure the volume of sustainable, certified raw materials required in order to maintain routine operations,’ project manager of the airline, Joachim Buse, says.

Over a period of six months, nearly 1,500 tonnes of CO₂ emissions were saved and just over 1,500 tonnes of biokerosene mix was consumed. Fuel consumption was able to be reduced by more than 1% by using this new fuel because the energy density of the biofuel is higher than conventional fuel.

‘Our burnFAIR project went off smoothly and to our fullest satisfaction. As expected, biofuel proved its worth in daily flight operations,’ says Joachim Buse, VP of aviation biofuel at Lufthansa.

The airline plans to fly its first transatlantic flight to the US tomorrow, which will carry about 40 tonnes of the biosynthetic fuel mix, flying from Frankfurt to Washington.

However, the airline warns that more needs to be done to meet emissions targets and that other companies should take note of their ambitious targets, as according the IATA’s plans airlines need to reduce their net CO₂ emissions by 50% by 2050.

‘If we want to protect our climate and thus our future in a sustainable manner, we need innovative ideas and technologies and an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels – particularly in view of the growing demand for mobility worldwide,’ says Christoph Franz, chairman of Lufthansa.