In his newsletter, Bisignani applied to ministers of transport, heads of state and environment ministers in order they could assist “to make Copenhagen a success” for the airline industry as IATA was not able to be the only campaigner.

But the airline industry has a big number of denial, delay and inactivity for that reason many UNFCCC delegates are not ready to believe that IATA or the International Civil Aviation Organization(ICAO), the UN agency for civil aviation will contribute to curtailing greenhouse gas emissions from the sector.

Both the aviation industry and the shipping industry became the most unruly industry sectors when talking about global warming.

In late 1997 the Kyoto Protocol stated the following: emissions of greenhouse gases should follow restriction or reduction from the aviation sector by means of ICAO. Later little progress was seen as there were made changes by ICAO. But according to the recent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change report, international aviation emissions of developed countries increased by 65.8% during the period of1990 and 2005.

Also IATA accepted a four-pronged public relations strategy in order to smooth concern over its environmental influence. It was decided to promote the growth of fuel efficiency as well as to hype the fact that some of its member companies provide passengers the option to take part in a carbon offset program. The association also targeted at securing the support of International Civil Aviation Organization in order IATA was able to implement four-pillar strategy of investing in technology, flying planes effectively, building effective infrastructure as well as utilizing economic measures.

IATA airlines introduced a bold-sounding strategy in June 2009. The aim of the strategy was to design the image of resolute action by the industry.

“This is an important step on the road to completely sustainable aviation,” said KLM President & CEO Peter Hartman. “KLM has joined forces with its partners to vigorously stimulate the further development of alternative fuels. In so doing, we need to rely on the input and support of all the relevant parties: the business community, government and society at large.’’

The biofuel that will power the plane will be made entirely out of camelina. Studies have shown that camelina-based fuel reduces carbon emissions by up to 84% when compared to the standard petroleum-based fuels.

KLM along with Air France has been the driving force for innovation in eco-friendly flying. The Dutch side of Worldwide Fund for Nature has voted KLM as its Business Partner of the year for 2009, while KLM-Air France was given the top spot in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, which tracks the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide.

Here’s a video from the inaugurational flight, as shot by our twitter friend, @klmfan:

The airline company offered a free flight to customers who had made an early booking of the flight from London’s Gatwick airport to Doha and who could not cope with their nerves and thus were not able to contribute to historic progress.

Gary Woodward, general manager operations and technical supply at Shell, assured that such option would give a chance to abate dependence on oil-based fuel. GTL fuel is characterized as gas with low emissions of air pollutants which can help improve air quality at local airports air quality but at the same time it has higher carbon content in comparison with ordinary fuel.

Environmentalists started to denounce aviation because it influenced negatively on climate change. An agreement was promulgated last month according to which emissions should be cut to 50 per cent below 2005 levels by 2050.

Fuels based on substances ranging from coconut oil to algae were examined by various manufacturers and airlines, including Virgin Atlantic, Continental Airlines and Air New Zealand. For the last two years five test flights among them a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-400 trip used both biofuels and GTL. One engine of the Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-400 operated on a 20 per cent biofuel mix of babassu oil and coconut oil.

Despite the fact that coal-to-liquid kerosene was used by commercial airlines in South Africa, Monday’s flight is considered to be the first that used gas-to-liquid moreover it is beneficial for the environment. (via FT)