Green group dismisses UK’s first biofuel flight

Friends of the Earth has dismissed Thomson Airways first commercial flight run on biofuel as a “hollow PR stunt that paves the way for rainforest destruction”. The Thomson Airways aircraft claims to use “sustainable” biofuel, however FOE says the fuel uses virgin plant oil from the United States and babassu nuts from Brazil, which “are very short in supply”, which means the airline will be forced to seek unsustainable alternatives to fuel daily flights from next year. Thomson’s parent company TUI is already looking into soya and palm oil for its Thomson Airways fleet – and these are known drivers