Continental Airlines became the first U.S. airline (and the third worldwide after Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand) to test biofuel on one of its aircraft yesterday. A 737-800W flown by Rich Jankowski and Joe O'Neill flew using a 50/50 jatropha-jet fuel blend in one engine for one and a half hours over the Gulf of Mexico after departing from Houston Bush.The test flight included an engine shutdown and restart. Interestingly, the engine using the blend burned 3% less fuel than the one running on jet fuel. The aircraft will return to regular service today.
Following earlier demonstrations 