Continental Flies Biofuel-powered 737
Continental Airlines today became the first North American airline to demonstrate the use of sustainable biofuel to power a commercial aircraft when one of

Continental Airlines today became the first North American airline to demonstrate the use of sustainable biofuel to power a commercial aircraft when one of its Boeing 737-800s took off from George Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport shortly after noon local time fueled in part with algae and jatropha oil. Powered by its two CFM International CFM56-7B engines, the 737-800, tail number 516, flew under a specially-issued experimental type certificate and carried no passengers.

The Continental demo came only about a week after Air New Zealand flew a Boeing 747-400 that used a 50-50 blend of jatropha oil and conventional jet fuel in one of that airplane’s four Rolls-Royce RB211s.