Thomson Airways to conduct biofuel flights
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Thomson Airways is to become the first UK airline to operate a flight on biofuel later this month. The airline will use the sustainable fuel on a flight from Birmingham to Palma on 28 July following tests and safety clearance. Weekly flights will then be operated on the route using the biofuel from in the summer and Birmingham to Alicante schedules in the winter. Thomson Airways will be using fuel supplied by SkyNRG, which was also used to run KLM’s biofuel flight last week. The fuel currently has a higher premium than regular jet oil and Thomson Airways is now pushing the government to incentivise airlines for adopting the more sustainable method. “Sustainable biofuels offer us the opportunity to improve our own individual environmental performance as well as contributing to the UK’s carbon reduction target,” said Chris Browne, managing director of Thomson Airways. “We urge UK and EU governments to use this opportunity to review the legislation and remove the barriers around sustainable biofuels so that other airlines can follow our lead.” The airline believes the use of biofuel will help the UK cuts its carbon emissions by 50% by 2025. Theresa Villiers, aviation minister welcomed the announcement. “The Government believes that sustainable biofuels have a role to play in efforts to tackle climate change, particularly in sectors where no other viable low carbon energy source has been identified – as is the case with aviation,” she said. “We want aviation to flourish and grow but we have also been clear that the environmental impacts of flying must be addressed.”
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