Air New Zealand has joined hands with Virgin Australia to scrutinise options for internally manufactured aviation biofuel. The combined team will issue a Request for Information (RFI) seeking options for locally manufactured aviation renewable fuel. The airlines have scheduled May 30, 2016, as the last date for the parties to express their vision.
The Request for Information is created with an aim to reduce the impact of air pollution caused by flights and it is an important milestone in the carbon control programme. According to Captain David Morgan, flight operations head at Air New Zealand, this new partnership will enable both parties to enhance domestic market, lure additional investment and explore innovative biofuel supply for aviation purposes.
Robert Wood, leader of sustainability at Virginia Australia, said that the airline is looking forward to bring growth in the aviation biofuel sector and aims to control aviation impact on global warming. He added that this new partnership with Air New Zealand will fuel additional investment into the aviation industry, leading to more job opportunities in the area.
Both Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand ensure that the environment will be benefited by this new aviation biofuel program. The airlines advise RFI respondents to focus more on these strategies. Through this approach, the airlines expect to evade from petroleum run jet fuels.
The Air Transport Action Group said that biofuel can be produced by handling sewage wastes. According to a spokesman, the primary goal of RFI is to reduce jet fuels and develop renewable fuels for the aviation industry. The aviation sector is anticipated to contribute nearly 2% of carbon-dioxide emissions to the global warming. The Center for Biological Diversity grades commercial aircraft in the seventh position for CO2 emissions.
Last month, a United Nations board announced the first rule to stop CO2 emissions from these commercial airplanes. This eco-friendly policy was criticised by weather advocates as being too fragile and that recent air crafts comply with emission control rules, Mashable reports.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Bryan, chairman of Virgin Australia, said that the airline is investigating its balance sheet structure. In February 2016, the airline posted a robust profit for the six-month period of 2015 and said it expects to report another year of profit in 2016. However, market researchers raised their anxiety regarding the airline's weak cash flow level that could leave a destructive impact on its annual results as reported by THE AUSTRALIAN.
Virgin Australia's balance sheet has a cash level of $907 million, but its unlimited capital balance dropped to $544 million during the six-month period from $719 million as of June 30. The airline is expected to carry a net debt of $2.1 billion in 2016. Bryan added that it not the right time to raise funds through equity markets or foreign debts.
The airline sector is more volatile and depends heavily on market factors like oil prices, demands for flight journey and other related measures. In addition, the sector needs to check on green gas emissions from commercial aircraft.
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