Aeromexico continues its jet biofuel programme with regular regional flights using Honeywell's Green Jet Fuel
(photo: ASA)
Mon 14 Nov 2011 – Following Aeromexico’s biofuel commercial flight from Mexico City to Madrid in August, the first of its kind across the Atlantic, the carrier is now operating a series of weekly flights between Mexico City to San Jose, Costa Rica. The transatlantic flight used a 30 per cent blend containing biofuel sourced from Mexican-grown jatropha but the regular commercial flights of a Boeing 737-700 are using a 15 per cent blend of Honeywell Green Jet Fuel sourced from camelina grown in the US northwest. The biofuel was blended by Mexico’s airport operator and jet fuel supplier Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares (ASA). The agency has developed a programme that is focused in identifying and analysing elements of a sustainable aviation biofuels supply chain in Mexico.
The ASA programme – Flight Plan Towards Sustainable Aviation Biofuels in Mexico – is aimed at boosting the use of biofuels across the country, with a target of one 1% usage by 2015 and 15% by 2020. In July, Mexico’s second-biggest airline, Interjet, carried out the country’s first commercial biofuel flights between Mexico City and Tuxtla Gutierrez using an Airbus A320.
Mexico’s sustainable jet biofuel strategy encompasses additional biomass sources such as algae, salicornia and castor seed. ASA is coordinating efforts with other organisations through the country’s Inter-Agency Biofuel Development Commission, which was set up to overview and coordinate all government efforts related to biofuel production, storage, transportation, distribution, commercialisation and final use. ASA has set up collaboration agreements with state governments as well as the private sector, including Boeing and Honeywell’s UOP.
Early last month, camelina-derived Green Jet Fuel made from the Honeywell UOP process was used as part of a blend produced by ASA to power a flight by Iberia, in partnership with Spanish oil company Repsol, from Madrid to Barcelona.