While introducing biofuels in planes still remains far, concrete steps are being taken by the airline industry to bring down carbon footprint and fuel consumption. Striking a positive note, Boeing is experimenting the ways to give a momentum to the biofules revolution. However, the challenge remains in substantially shrinking the environmental footprint of jets without overhauling the existing airplane fleet on the globe.

Bill Glover, Boeing's environmental strategy director remarked, "Two years ago we were quite skeptical of this whole area, because we thought there were too many challenges. Then we started to see a few things we hadn't seen before, people entering the field looking at alternatives, all kinds of feedstock."

In partnership with Virgin Atlantic and engine maker GE Aviation, the company has planned to fly a biofuel-propelled 747 sometime next year. This going to be a major step for green tourism.

A range of alternatives is being tested as sources of biodiesel from the established soybeans to algae. The expectation from the perfect compound is to prevent global warming at the same time not affecting the economic growth.

Commenting on the popular alternative of soybeans, Dave Daggett, the head of energy and emissions research at Boeing Commercial Airplanes' product development unit remarked, "You would have to plant an area the size of Florida with soy beans to provide a 15 percent blend of jet fuel for the whole U.S. aircraft fleet. Clearly that's not going to be appropriate."