The companies will jointly invite suppliers to offer alternative fuel samples for testing on a Rolls-Royce RB211 engine from a BA Boeing 747. Up to four alternative fuels will be selected from those tendered to undergo laboratory testing before being delivered to Rolls-Royce in the new year. Suppliers of fuels selected will be asked to provide up to 60,000 liters of their alternative fuel.

Engine performance tests will be conducted on an indoor engine test-bed at Rolls-Royce's facility in Derby, U.K., with results compared to running on conventional kerosene. In each case, the engine will be operated through its full range of power settings including idle, acceleration, take off and cruise.

The companies believe that testing in a controlled, test-bed environment will enable more accurate data to be gathered than would be possible in-flight, because additional instrumentation can be used and performance and emissions will not be affected by other external factors.

Testing is expected to be complete by the end of March 2009.

Ric Parker, director of research and technology at Rolls-Royce, said: "The key criteria for the selection of alternative fuels will be their suitability, sustainability and industrial capability. It is critical that the fuel can not only do the job required of it, but also can offer a CO2 benefit and be produced without a detrimental impact to food, land or water. There must also be clear evidence of the potential for mass production and global distribution of an alternative fuel to support the world's aviation industry."

Jonathon Counsell, head of environment at British Airways, claimed BA was the first airline to set fuel efficiency targets, which have enabled it to improve fuel efficiency by 28% since 1990.

"We are well on our way to our target of a 30% improvement by 2010," he said. "We have also announced a further 25% improvement target on fuel efficiency by 2025 compared with 2005. Should the tests with Rolls-Royce be successful, the potential for bringing us closer to a greener fuel alternative that will help the aviation industry reduce its carbon footprint will be enormous."

The results of the study will be made public.