<div><p>Air New Zealand said it will conduct its first trial of biofuel on one of its Boeing 747 aircraft on a flight next month.</p><p>The airline said this week the biofuel will include 50 percent standard jet fuel and synthetic fuel made from the oil from seeds of the jatropha plant.</p><p>Air New Zealand's chief pilot David Morgan said the two-hour test flight would be held on December 3 with the jatropha blend fuelling one of the four engines.</p><p>"Various procedures will be carried out during the test flight to confirm and measure the performance of the engine being operated with this fuel," Morgan said in a statement.</p><p>Rolls-Royce fuels specialist Chris Lewis said the properties of the fuel would be virtually indistinguishable from conventional fuel.</p><p>The jatropha oil will come from plants grown in east Africa and Air New Zealand said they could be grown in a range of difficult conditions, including arid and otherwise non-arable areas.</p><p>The test flight is a joint venture between Air New Zealand, Boeing, Rolls-Royce and UOP, a Honeywell company, and the airline said it was part of efforts to make commercial aviation more sustainable, amid climate change fears.</p><p>British-based Virgin Atlantic became the first airline to trial a biofuel in February on a flight between London and Amsterdam, using a blend including coconut oil and babassu nut oil.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=36972685&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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