Virgin to trial new biofuel

Virgin Atlantic has announced plans to start using a new biofuel devised from waste gases.

The airline organisation claims it will start using a low-carbon jet fuel derived from waste gases released during industrial steel production on some of its commercial flights by 2014.

Some of the technology used in the capturing of the gases has been created in collaboration with LanzaTech, Swedish Biofuels and Boeing and the gases used would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.

Virgin president Richard Branson said that the airline is the first to test a biofuel and claims that the move shows the company as a pioneer of sustainable aviation.

"This partnership to produce a next-generation, low-carbon aviation fuel is a major step towards radically reducing our carbon footprint and we are excited about the savings that this technology could help us achieve," he explained.

The airline has also pledged to have achieved a reduction in carbon by 30 per cent per passenger kilometre by 2020.