Not that long ago, it was a challenge to operate a business jet in Mexico. There were few FBOs, ground support was sporadic — at outlying airports, nonexistent — and getting anything seemed to take forever. Even in the few cases where handling agents were available, permits and authorizations had to be walked through multiple offices by flight crews.

No organic fuel discovered so far is as “dense” with hydrocarbons as petroleum, which is why it has represented the fuel of choice in internal combustion engines for more than a century. While biofuels come close to replicating the characteristics of petroleum, the one area where they fall short is density.

Honeywell Aerospace’s engine division has been active the last three years testing its business aviation engines and airline APUs on 50/50 blends of biofuel and military JP8 jet fuel.