Japan Airlines Corp. will carry out a flight test on Jan. 30 of a Boeing 747-300 airliner fitted with a Pratt & Whitney engine using a 50 percent blend of a biofuel derived mainly from camelina, a plant in the mustard family, JAL said.
The plane will depart from Haneda airport in Tokyo, conducting an hourlong flight in airspace off Hachijojima Island, some 280 km south of Tokyo, and returning to the same airport, the company said Tuesday.
Camelina is inedible, so its application to jet fuel does not require sacrificing edible foods, the carrier said. JAL is conducting the test with Boeing Co. and leading U.S. jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney.
Camelina is conventionally used to light lamps and as a material in cosmetics.
JAL will power one of the airliner's four Pratt & Whitney engines with the biofuel blended at 50 percent with a conventional jet fuel based on kerosene.
The biofuel also contains oil derived from algae and Jatropha, a plant. JAL said that during the flight the engine will be cut in midair and then restarted for experimental purposes.
In February, Britain's Virgin Atlantic airline flight-tested an airliner using a biofuel. JAL will become the first Asian airline to do so.
Continental Airlines of the United States and other airlines are also planning to flight-test airliners using the fuel.