Thomson Airways has defended the environmental credentials of today’s biofuel-powered flight from Birmingham to Lanzarote, in the face of accusations that the trial is nothing more than a “hollow PR stunt”.
The holiday company had originally planned the flight, which will see one engine fuelled with a 50 per cent blend of jet fuel and hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids, for July, but said that it was forced to postpone the trial owing to fuel delivery problems.
Thomson announced last month that today’s 14.25 flight will be its first using sustainable biofuel supplied by Dutch company SkyNRG, adding that it will kick off full daily operations from early 2012 for around six weeks.
KLM, Aeromexico, and Lufthansa have also flown commercial flights using biofuel blends as airlines look to cut emissions and guard against increasingly volatile oil prices.
But green groups have questioned the sustainability of jet biofuels, arguing that there simply is not enough waste to meet anticipated demand from the aviation industry.
Many groups, including WWF and Friends of the Earth, are concerned that airlines will turn to unsustainable biofuel feedstocks that could drive rainforest deforestation and other changes in land use.
Friends of the Earth said that it would take the average person a century to save up enough chip fat to fly from Birmingham to Lanzarote one way. In a statement, the group warned that Thomson will use virgin plant oil from the US and babassu nuts from Brazil and that TUI, Thomson’s parent company, is also investigating using soya and palm oil, both of which have been blamed for driving deforestation.
Kenneth Richter, Friend’s of the Earth’s biofuels campaigner, rejected Thomson’s claims that airlines’ adoption of sustainable biofuels will help achieve the government’s target of cutting carbon emissions in half by 2025, saying that land-use change could mean that biofuels from crops generate more emissions than they save.
“Biofuels won’t make flying any greener. Their production is wrecking rainforests, pushing up food prices and causing yet more climate-changing emissions,” he said in a statement.
“The government must curb future demand for flights by halting airport expansion, promoting videoconferencing, and developing faster, better and affordable rail services.”
However, these claims were rejected as “completely inaccurate” by Thomson, which insisted that the biofuel purchased was sourced entirely from used cooking oil and used no animal tallow, babassu or energy crop camelina.
The company reiterated its commitment to using sustainable aviation biofuel, which does not compete with food or natural resources and has significantly lower total lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions that fossil jet fuel.
“We realise we won’t please everyone, and that at present the aviation biofuel supply chain is not perfect,” said Christian Cull, communications director of TUI UK and Ireland, in the statement.
“We are sincere in our commitment and are proud to be flying with biofuel. Whilst these are early days, we are in this for the long haul because we believe it is the right thing to do.”
