SeaTac’s Alaska Airlines will begin commercial flights powered by a mix of conventional jet fuel and biofuel made from refined and reprocessed used cooking oils Wednesday.
The first two flights will operate between Sea-Tac Airport and Portland and Sea-Tac and Washington, D.C. Those flights will be the first of 75 biofuel flights the airline plans to make during the remainder of 2011.
Alaska would have been the first major U.S. airline to operate a regularly scheduled flight, but United Airlines announced a single bio-fueled flight Monday between Houston and Chicago.
Several European airlines pioneered commercial flights powered by biofuels, though none has been as large a trial with as lengthy flights as Alaska plans.
“This is a historic week for U.S. aviation. The 75 flights that Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air will fly over the next few weeks reflect our longstanding commitment to environmental responsibility and our belief that sustainable biofuels are key to aviation’s future,” Alaska Air Group Chairman and CEO Bill Ayer said.
The biofuels to be used in the flights are produced in a Louisiana plant by Dynamic Fuels LLC, a joint venture of Tyson Foods and Syntroleum Corp. The fuels burned on the flights will be a 20 percent mixture of biofuels and conventional jet fuels.
While the demonstration flights are good ways for airlines to show their interest in alternate fuels, widespread adoption of biofuels will likely wait until cost and availability issues are solved.
The Louisiana company was the only source that could supply biofuel in sufficient quantity for the test, said Alaska. Including the price of transporting the fuel to Sea-Tac and for the 75 flight trials, the fuel cost the airline about $17 a gallon for a 50-50 biofuel-jet fuel mixture. That compares with the cost of conventional jet fuel of about $3 a gallon.
Boeing flew its new 747-8 to France this year from Seattle for an international air show using biofuels to power an engine.
John Gillie
john.gillie@thenewstribune.com
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