01 March 2012
Fedex CEO declares aviation biofuels a priority

In Washington, FedEx CEO Fred Smith said that aviation biofuels are a priority for the company, and should be for the United States to get the country weaned off oil. He said the technology is already proven so it’s just a matter of surmounting the price barrier that remains left before the industry can fully integrate biofuels into its fuel supply.

“The aviation industry is totally committed to reducing energy consumption for both cost and environmental reasons,” said Smith. “The energy industry has demonstrated drop-in biofuels. The Navy has flown the ‘Green Hornet’ [an F/A-18 fueled by a biofuel blend]. Lufthansa, KLM and Virgin have flown flights with drop-in biofuels. There is no question that you can produce highly efficient biofuels. It is simply a matter of scalability and cost.”