First commercial British flight fuelled by used chip fat is met by naked protesters.
A planeload of British holidaymakers have made aviation history by flying to Lanzarote on a plane fuelled by used chip pan oil.
The Thomson Airways flight from Birmingham airport was the first UK commercial bio fuels flight ever from a UK airport.
One of the engines on the twin engined Boeing 757 flight was operated on a 50 per cent blend of ‘Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids’, produced from used cooking oil, and 50 per cent Jet A1 fuel
Environmental protesters stripped naked and covered themselves in red body paint in a bid to disrupt the launch.
Calling themselves Plane Stupid they said that rain forests were being wrecked to make way for bio fuel plantations.
The cooking oil used for the Thomson flights is collected from the kitchens of hotels and restaurants and then goes through a special processing treatment.
Plane Stupid protester Chris Cooper said: ‘Thomson seem to be acknowledging that we can’t continue business as usual in the face of the current climate emergency.
‘It’s a shame their solution is to make matters worse.
‘Vast tracts of rain forest, eco systems vital to halting climate change, are currently being trashed to make way for bio fuel plantations.
‘Land that grows food is being stolen from some of the world’s poorest people so that it can start feeding planes. It’s a disaster.
