Virgin trials biodiesel baggage vehicle

PHAN0552 Virgin Australia tail — Virgin Australia has launched a biofuel trial with a ground service vehicle.

Virgin Australia has launched a trial of biodiesel fuel in a baggage handling vehicle at Brisbane Airport.

Virgin says the trial is the first time an Australian airline has used biodiesel in its ground service equipment. The fuel is made up of 20 per cent biodiesel derived from tallow and used cooking oil and 80 per cent conventional diesel fuel, Virgin said, with the biodiesel produced by Queensland company Ecotech.

“Should the trial be successful, we hope to roll out biodiesel to our ground service equipment in Brisbane and other mainline airport,” Virgin executive of operations Sean Donohue said. “This could lead to a reduction in over 300 tonnes of CO2 per year.”

Qantas earlier this year made the first Australian commercial flight powered by a biofuel mix, and both Qantas and Virgin are pursuing schemes aimed at developing a viable Australia aviation biofuel industry.