Lufthansa Airbus A321 (D-AISE) coming from Hamburg.
There have been quite a few airlines testing out different biofuels, but none that have run biofuels on a long-term basis during scheduled passenger service. Starting in April 2011, Lufthansa will start a six month trial using an Airbus A321 on scheduled flights between Hamburg and Frankfurt using biofuel.
Only one of the A321’s engines will be using a 50-50 mix of biofuel and normal aviation fuel. They hope to use this six months to see how the use of biofuel will affect maintenance and engine life. The A321 will have a unique set up since it will only fly this route and only be fueled in Hamburg. Normally aircraft are used on different routes and can be fueled at almost any airport.
During the six month trial, Lufthansa expects to save about 1,500 tons of CO2 emissions. ’œLufthansa will be the world’s first airline to utilize biofuel in flight operations within the framework of a long-term trial. This is a further consistent step in a proven sustainability strategy, which Lufthansa has for many years successfully pursued and implemented,’ said Lufthansa Chief Wolfgang Mayrhuber.
This project, that Lufthansa is calling “burnFAIR,” is being funded in part by the German government. The government is investing about $3.3 million (2.5 million Euros) into the project, where Lufthansa is investing about $8.7 million (6.6 million Euros). The goal is to find a viable alternative to standard aviation fuel that can power airlines around the world with less emissions and be sustainable.
The use of biofuel is one element in a four-pillar strategy aimed at reducing overall emissions in air traffic at Lufthansa. Environmental goals can only be achieved in the future with a combination of various measures, like ongoing fleet renewal, operational measures such as engine washing and infrastructural improvements. Cheers to Lufthansa taking this next step, I will be very interested to see how it works out.
More on the topic:
* Alaska Airlines and Boeing work on BioFuels
* Air New Zealand tries out biofuels
Source: Seattle PI/Lufthansa Image: Thomas Becker
Check out this blog for a little mis-information humor.
If you don’t care about facts and like a little humor with airlines and the local Seattle area, then you should check out The Airline Blogger blog.
This local anonymous blogger recently started sharing his mis-knowledge recently and lives in the Seattle area. He is blogging anonymously, but I know the guy. I can assure you that he literally knows nothing about aviation and I think he actually believes most of what he is posting.
From talking about the DreamLifter being the new comet rocket (it’s not, obviously) to taking really really bad photos with fences in the way . He tells me getting the fence makes it “real”… but I think more like “real” bad.
The man behind this blog let me ask him a few questions to try and learn where he is coming from:
AirlineReporter (me): Who are you?
TheAirlineBlogger (TAB): Who am I? That is such an open question. Who are you?
Me: Why are you writing this blog?
TAB: I have found myself asking question after question trying to understand planes and the airline industry. After hanging out around airline nerds listening to them discuss the crazy things they hear when non airline people share their ideas on the industry, I figured I could stop asking questions and start making assumptions and possibly provide a little amusement along the way. I have found that a lot of “real” media people don’t need to check facts and can say whatever they want, so why can’t I?
Me: You live by Paine Field?
TAB: “By” is relative compared to most people in the world who enjoy planes I live near by. As a kid I lived the first 12 years of my life 2 miles from Paine Field. My elementary school mascot was the “Flyers” because we were so close to it. Today I live “by” Paine Field compared to someone in Jersey, but not “by” Paine Field like I did when I was younger.
Me: Are you afraid people might think your information is valid?
TAB: What do you mean? Are you saying you believe the content in my blog is not valid? As far as I am concerned everything I am blogging is valid. If it is on the internet, it has to be true right?
Me: What is your favorite plane?
TAB: My favorite plane is SpaceShipFour, yea outside of myself, Burt Rutan, Paul Allen and Sir Richard Branson not many people know about this fine craft. It is slated to be the first full orbital commercial airliner. While not practical it should be a blast to ride in. I hope to keep my readers up to date on this project as more details are leaked to me from my “inside source”.
I have found a lot of his stuff to be quite entertaining. Let’s see if he can keep it up.
S7 Airbus A310 VP-BTJ
You aren’t going to miss this livery rolling the down the runway. OJSC Siberia Airlines (but just call her S7) was founded in 1992 and is based in Novosibirsk, Russia.
The airline’s old livery was just a bit drab. With only color on the tail, a white body and some red writing. No one can say the newer S7 livery is bland. The interior is just as festive, check out this photo of the interior of an S7 Airbus A310; almost makes your eyes hurt.
Although the green livery looks good on the Airbus A310, A320, Boeing 737 and Boeing 767 fleet they currently fly, I think it looks best on the classic Tupolev TU-154 that they stopped flying in 2008. The TU-154’s were still flown under the GloBus livery which flew tourist flights until 2009.
In 2007 S7 put in an order for 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliners (would have loved to see that livery on a 787), but they were canceled in 2009 by S7. Just this month S7 was added to the Oneworld alliance, sponsored by British Airways.
Image: Anatoliy Zhuravlev
American Airlines Boeing 757-200 in Seattle.
If you will be flying American Airlines after December 1st and your flight leaves from 5:00pm to 5:59pm you get to enjoy their 5@5 Happy Hour. All alcoholic beverages will only cost $5 for the entire flight. Make sure to bring your cards, since the entire American fleet is cashless.
“As we wrap up the year, we want to show our customers that we appreciate their business. Offering an inflight happy hour is our small way of saying thank you,” said Rob Friedman, American’s Vice President ’“ Marketing. “We know travelers have many options for air travel and the 5@5 happy hour enhances the travel experience for our customers while adding an element of fun onboard during the holiday travel season.”
This seems like a good idea to remind folks that beverages are there to be purchased, especially during the snowy winter months coming up where passengers might enjoy a cheap drink or two.
Seeing how people are reacting to this news, some are saying this will just promote drinking while flying which is bad. I disagree. Someone who will abuse alcohol and cause issues is going to do it no matter the cost. Plus the flight attendants are trained how to tell a passenger when enough is enough. Cheers to American for this promotion.
Image: Drewski2112
I'd rather fly than take the Mayflower.
I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels.
Although travel during the holidays can be a real pain, just remember what it was like for the first pilgrims to arrive to Plymouth Rock.
The Mayflower left England and took 66 days and had two deaths before reaching Massachusetts. Today, you can make the same journey in a few hours. Maybe that little delay and stale peanuts don’t seem so bad after all. Airline travel truly is amazing.
