Virgin Atlantic’s Coconut Powered 747 Completes First Flight
Virgin Atlantic completed its 747 flight from London to Amsterdam using biofuel, of which 150,000 coconuts added up to 20% of the jet fuel.
As had been anticipated, the joint trial by Boeing and Virgin on Sunday saw a jumbo jet take to the sky partially running on so-called “first generation” biofuel, in this case derived from coconuts grown in the Philippines and babassu palm oil. Babassu palms grow wild in Brazil, so this type of palm oil is seen as eco-friendlier than most.
Rather exciting news but the use of coconut oil to power planes isn’t yet and perhaps never will be do-able.