Airlines to use biofuels, recycled cooking oil!

High airline turbine fuel prices and pressure to cut down carbon emissions have forced airlines to look at renewable sources of energy to power their jets.

In a bid to reduce emission and save costs, Dutch airline KLM plans to use recycled cooking oil on 200 flights.

The fuel, biokerosene, will be made from used frying oil.

Meanwhile, European airlines, biofuel producers and the European Union Commission signed an agreement on Wednesday to produce 2 million tonnes of biofuel for the aviation sector by 2020.

The agreement was signed by Airbus, Air France-KLM, British Airways, Lufthansa and biofuel producer Neste Oil.

Lufthansa plans to try a biofuel mix on flights between Frankfurt and Hamburg.

British Airways is planning to make fuels from waste and start flying planes using this new fuel from 2015.

According to Airbus, airlines may consume 30 percent of their fuel from plant-derived sources by 2030.

In 2009, Continental Airlines successfully flew a Boeing 737 powered by a biofuel.

Virgin Atlantic was first to fly a Boeing 747 jumbo jet on biofuel from London to Amsterdam. It used a biofuel composed of babassu oil and coconut oil.

While airlines plan to switch to biofuels, the World Bank and World Trade Organisation have advocated against using land for making biofuels as it pushes up food prices across the world.