ATW Daily News
Branson: Virgin to conduct 747 biofuel test flight 'early next year'
Tuesday October 16, 2007Virgin Atlantic Airways plans to conduct a 747 biofuel test flight next year, parent Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson said. At a recent appearance in Amsterdam and again yesterday during a speech in Boston, he said that Virgin will "early next year. . .fly one of our 747s without passengers with [an alternative fuel] we have developed." No other details were revealed. Virgin has said in the past that it is working with Boeing and GE to develop biofuels. Air New Zealand, Boeing and Rolls-Royce signed an MOU last month to conduct jointly what they claimed will be the first trial of a commercial 747 operated with biofuel, with the test flight taking place in late 2008 or early 2009 using an ANZ 747-400. The aircraft will not carry passengers and only one engine will run on the blended biofuel/kerosene mix (ATWOnline, Oct. 1).
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ATW Media Group
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