American Airlines Flight Diverts to Shannon with Smokey Cabin

CHICAGO, Oct. 21 Boeing Vice President, Environment and Aviation Policy, Billy M Glover, issued the following statement in the wake of today’s announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Federal Aviation Administration that the two agencies have agreed to work together to bring sustainable biofuels into production for the aviation industry.

“Today’s announcement is welcome news for the commercial aviation industry, which sees sustainable biofuels as a key element of its plan to lower its carbon emissions. Through test flights with a number of our customers, we have proven that fuels made from plant matter and algae can power jet aircraft safely and efficiently, and we look forward in the months ahead to the approval of these fuels for commercial use. The challenge then will be to prime the production pump, and bring biofuels to an attractive price point for airlines.

Boeing is currently working with the USDA and the Air Transport Association on the Farm-to-Fly initiative, which seeks to encourage the production of sustainable aviation biofuels through U.S. agricultural policy. The USDA-FAA partnership will further help in that regard. We applaud their efforts and look forward to working with them to commercialize biofuels that can help the aviation industry meet its aggressive carbon reduction goals.”