Qantas urges government to help fledgling biofuels industry

Qantas Airways Ltd. has urged Australia’s federal government to help establish an aviation biofuels industry in the country. The airline claimed the government’s Aviation Green Paper, released in December 2008, overlooked the development of a local jet biofuel industry that will be critical for the airline to reduce emissions. Airlines are looking at a variety of second- and third-generation biofuel feedstocks. Australia is uniquely positioned to drive this kind of development, as it has large areas of non-arable land, according to Qantas. Individual airlines couldn’t build a biofuel supply chain on its own, it emphasized, given the capital cost requirement and supply chain challenges of such an undertaking. (March 10/11, 2009)