UAE's Etihad demonstrates flight with biofuel mix

Etihad Airways said Sunday it has flown a Boeing 777 plane on a 45-minute demonstration flight powered in part by biofuel developed in collaboration with French firm Total. The Abu Dhabi-based carrier has teamed up with Total, US manufacturer Boeing, local refiner Takreer and Masdar research institute in an initiative "to support a sustainable aviation biofuel industry in the United Arab Emirates," it said. Biofuel amounted to 10 percent of the fuel used in the demonstration flight that took off Saturday, a Total spokesman said, pointing out that the biofuel was used in the past in a similar flight during the Paris airshow. Etihad said the biofuel was partially converted from plants by Total and refined into jet fuel by government-owned Takreer.