While Boeing and Airbus were duking it out over who got the better contracts, they were also angling to show who's greener. Both companies this week talked up the importance of producing planes that are more environmentally friendly than the current generation.
Boeing put the onus on the makers of jet engines. "The questions you (reporters) ask are more appropriately addressed by the engine guys than the airframe guys," Scott Carson, the chief executive of Boeing's commercial plane unit, said Sunday, according to a report from the Reuters news agency. "We're pushing the engine guys as hard as anyone else."
One engine maker at the Paris show was proud to show off its commitment to the environment. CFM International even went so far as to use real grass in its booth. As for its engines, the CFM56-7B, which is used in Boeing 737 models, has had an initial test in which it ran off a mixture of 30 percent biofuel and 70 percent standard jet fuel.
Photo by CFM International
