The international airline association IATA is aiming to approve biofuels for commercial flights by 2010 or 2011, its director general Giovanni Bisignani said Tuesday.
Bisignani told a civil aviation industry meeting that recent tests by Continental Airlines, Japan's JAL, Air New Zealand and Virgin had shown that "next generation sustainable" clean burning biofuels worked.
"We have made amazing progress, certification by 2010 or 2011 is now a real possibility," Bisignani said.
However, such biofuels would still need to be produced in commercially viable quantities with common quality standards, and suppliers worldwide would also need to be equipped for storage.
"Commercial production should be a priority for governments encouraged by effective incentives in tax and regulatory frameworks," Bisignani told the Aviation and Environment Summit.
US aircraft maker Boeing's environmental strategy chief Bill Glover estimated that biofuel blends with jet fuel could cut emissions by 50 percent without the need to change aircraft.
Certification is widely regarded as a first technical step that could eliminate some of the investment uncertainties that cloud the use of high quality biofuels in aviation.
However, industry executives underlined that some other hurdles, including cost and supply, were still significant.
"We're now in a situation where the commercial viability is extremely questionable," said Andrew Herdman, head of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines.
Prices for crops or feedstocks for biofuels were more than twice that of a barrel of oil currently, while one airline involved in testing even had trouble finding enough of the high quality product, he added.
Biofuels are also controversial as critics say widespread production could affect food crops, exacerbate global shortages and lead to further strains on water supplies.
Bisignani said a drop in air traffic was likely to account for the bulk of cuts in carbon emissions from civil aviation in 2009.
Of the 7.8 percent reduction forecast this year, six percent is expected to be from reduced traffic due to the economic crisis.
IATA said its environmental audit had identified immediate fuel savings ranging between three and 12 percent that could be made at individual airlines.
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