Lufthansa is to be the first airline to use biofuel on commercial flights.
The German national carrier announced it planned to start a six-month trial next April on A321 aircraft on its Hamburg-Frankfurt service.
Lufthansa said the aircraft engines would use a 50-50 mix of biofuel and traditional kerosene.
While other carriers have tried out biofuel, Lufthansa is to first to go ahead with its use on a passenger flight.
The announcement was made at a press conference given by Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Lufthansa’s chairman and ceo, Peter Hinze, the German Parliamentary State Secretary and Government Aerospace Coordinator and Professor Dr Johann-Dietrich Wörner, chairman of the executive board of the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
They said the “primary purpose” was to study the long term effect of biofuel on engine maintenance and engine life.
Mayrhuber said that during the trial, his airline would save about 1,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
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