At the November Dubai World Leader Summit in the United Arab Emirates, Sir Richard Branson vowed to look for alternative fuel sources for his four airlines operating almost 100 aircraft. Using organic waste, or biomass, could be substantially cheaper than corn or sugar cane since that waste is not a primary product but simply residue from other agriculture or logging.

Branson was in Dubai to promote a daily service between London and Dubai that Virgin plans to launch in March. The ethanol idea is part of Branson’s broader plans to cut Virgin’s fuel bill. In September, he said he was looking at building a conventional oil refinery in a bid to ease a global shortage of refined fuel, including jet fuel.

 “We use around 700 million gallons of fuel a year between the four airlines,” Branson said. “I hope that over the next five to six years we can replace some or all of that” with plant-based ethanol.

Read entire Reuters article at MSNBC.com “Virgin Airways boss eyes plants for fleet fuel”   11-16-0