Last May, I told you how Lufthansa was going to start flying some of its commercial flights on a biofuel mix sometime in 2011. Now, Biofuels Digest reports the German airliner will start a six-month trial of a 50-50 mix of biofuel and traditional kerosene in one of the aircraft’s engines on its regular Hamburg-Frankfurt-Hamburg route:

During the six months trial, Lufthansa will save around 1,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions, said Lufthansa Chief Wolfgang Mayrhuber in Berlin today. “Lufthansa will be the world’s first airline to utilise 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 Mayrhuber.

The ‘burnFAIR’ project dedicated to the testing of biofuel, unveiled by Lufthansa today, is a successful example of integrating research efforts for the purpose of realising climate care objectives. This project is part of an overall “FAIR” initiative (Future Aircraft Research), in which other issues – alongside biofuel compatibility – such as new engine and aircraft concepts or other fuels, e.g. liquified natural gas (LNG) are under study. The Federal Government is contributing a total of five million euros towards the ‘FAIR’ initiative, of the total 2.5 million euros is earmarked for the Lufthansa ‘burnFAIR’ project.

Biofuels Digest goes on to note that this is “the most ambitious undertaking yet announced in aviation biofuels – only the British Airways-Solena project rivals this extensive trial in extended flight operations.”