UK carrier Virgin Atlantic may not be the first airline to fly an algae-derived biofuel after having successfully completed the first ever part-biofuel flight late last month.

Virgin, which is striving to position itself as the world’s most sustainable airline, believes that algae is the biofuel of the future.

Although Virgin has never said it would be first to test the technology, its fuel company is keen to work with leaders in algae biofuel field and earlier this month UK regulatory sources said the fuel used in Virgin’s test flight would be algae-based.

Speaking at a media briefing in New York, Virgin president Sir Richard Branson said that while initial test data from the trial was extremely good, a planned trial using algae as a biofuel source may not involve the airline.

“Later this year - either on a Virgin aircraft or another airline - algae will be tested and we are very confident it will work. Then the challenge is to make as much quantity

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