Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet freight to fly transatlantic flight to Paris Air Show on aviation biofuel

June 16, 2011
SEATTLE, 16 June 2011. Pilots from the Boeing Co. Commercial Airplanes segment in Seattle will fly the company's latest 747-8 jumbo jet freighter to the Paris Air Show June 20 to 24 using a fuel blend of 15 percent camelina-based biofuel mixed with 85 percent traditional kerosene fuel (Jet-A). Company officials claim the flight will be the first commercial jet transatlantic crossing using biologically derived fuel.

SEATTLE, 16 June 2011. Pilots from the Boeing Co. Commercial Airplanes segment in Seattle will fly the company's latest 747-8 jumbo jet freighter to the Paris Air Show June 20 to 24 using a fuel blend of 15 percent camelina-based aviation biofuel mixed with 85 percent traditional kerosene fuel (Jet-A). Company officials claim the flight will be the first commercial jet transatlantic crossing using biologically derived fuel.

The Boeing (NYSE:BA) jet airplane should arrive at Le Bourget Airport north of Paris Monday at about 5 p.m. local time after a 4,989-mile trip. The idea is to showcase Boeing efforts to reduce carbon emissions from the 747-8 jet's four GE GEnx-2B engines using aviation biofuel.

The plant source used to create the biofuel is called camelina, which was grown in Montana and processed by UOP LLC, a Honeywell company based in Des Plaines, Ill. Boeing will show the aircraft on static display at the Paris Air Show June 21 and 22.

For more information contact Boeing Commercial Airplanes online at www.boeing.com/commercial, UOP LLC at www.uop.com, or the Paris Air Show at www.paris-air-show.com.

About the Author

John Keller | Editor

John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.

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