Qantas Buys Into Planned Biofuel Plant in New Zealand

Despite doubts over the viability of running aircraft on biofuel, Qantas is part of a consortium planning to spend almost US$57 million to produce it in NZ.

Marsden Point oil refinery, the potential site of a new biofuel manufacturing plant. Source: Shellie Evans | Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons 2.0

Australian airline Qantas is part of a consortium planning to buy unused land and assets at the Marsden Point oil refinery in New Zealand to manufacture biofuel on the site.

The refinery shut down in 2022 because of declining revenue, and ownership of the site was transferred to Channel Infrastructure Limited, which is using some of the infrastructure for fuel importation and storage.