United kingdom Daily news: Come fry with me! Air Canada flies plane from Toronto to Mexico City on the power of recycled cooking oil

Kamis, 21 Juni 2012

Come fry with me! Air Canada flies plane from Toronto to Mexico City on the power of recycled cooking oil

Come fry with me! Air Canada flies plane from Toronto to Mexico City on the power of recycled cooking oil

By Eddie Wrenn

PUBLISHED: 09:30 EST, 21 June 2012 | UPDATED: 10:50 EST, 21 June 2012

If you are flying Air Canada and you see smoke coming from the cabin, don't worry - it is probably just the pilots working the fat-fryer.

For the airline is today flying its first flight with biofuel, with Flight AC991 from Toronto to Mexico City expected to generate at least 40 per cent fewer emissions by using jet fuel derived from recycled cooking oil.

The flight is supported by Airbus and is part of an environmental demonstration by the International Civil Aviation Organization (to coincide with the Rio +20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

Air Canada: The airline will be flying on recycled cooking oil, in a bid to reduce emissions by up to 40 per cent

Today's AC991 will be a normal 'revenue' flight operated with an Airbus A319 aircraft using a 50/50 mix of regular and biofuel derived from recycled cooking oil.

This blend, produced by a company called SkyNRG, has been re-certified to normal jet fuel standards and can be safely used without modifying the aircraft's systems.

Duncan Dee, executive vice president and chief operating officer, said: 'Air Canada fully accepts its responsibility to reduce its footprint and our first flight using biofuel tangibly demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the environment.

'Since 1990 our airline has become 30 per cent more fuel efficient and we are determined to increase these gains through cutting-edge measures such as those being showcased with this Toronto-Mexico City flight, our greenest ever.

'The flight, supported by Airbus, will link with other biofuel flights from Canada to Rio de Janeiro arranged under the auspices of ICAO to underscore the aviation industry's commitment to the environment at the UN sustainability conference.'

The A340 model, which is what Air Canda is using for the debut biofuel flight today

Fabrice BrÃ©gier, Airbus President and CEO sad: 'Today's flight with Air Canada proves that the aviation industry is in a strong position to reduce emissions.

'To make this a day-to-day commercial reality, it requires now a political will to foster incentives to scale up the use of sustainable biofuels and to accelerate the modernisation of the air-traffic-management system.

'We need a clear endorsement by governments and all aviation stakeholders to venture beyond today's limitations.'