High oil prices are helping drive leading commercial airframers' and airlines' participation in efforts to develop alternative fuels as soon as possible. Speaking at AVIATION WEEK'S MRO Europe 2008 Conference and Exhibition in Madrid last week, James Kinder, Boeing's senior fuel engineer, said past company studies on alternative fuels estimated they would be competitive with jet fuel at $70-90 a barrel. With oil now inching back up toward the $150-per-bar-rel mark it attained in the summer, alternative fuels now offer the prospect of lowering-or at least stabilizing-fuel costs, and they have potential emissions advantages, too, Kinder said.
展开▼
