EMERYVILLE, Calif., July 31, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Yesterday, Amyris (Nasdaq: AMRS ), an industrial bioscience company, partnered with Brazilian airline, GOL, to fly the industry's first commercial flight with farnesane, the recently approved renewable jet fuel. The first flight, GOL flight 7725, departed from Orlando, Florida on July 30, 2014 at 5:15 PM ET and traveled to Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The Amyris website includes video footage and photos of the refueling using the Amyris-Total renewable jet fuel, departure of the flight and photography of the aircraft.
GOL committed to fly its Boeing 737 fleet with up to a 10 percent blend of the renewable farnesane fuel starting with this initial flight on July 30, 2014. Farnesane can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 80 percent compared to petroleum fuels. When blended with Jet A/A1 fuel at 10 percent, farnesane can also reduce particulate matter emissions, decreasing pollution near airports and major metropolitan areas.
The global aviation industry has committed to aggressive goals to reduce its GHG emissions, including achieving carbon neutral growth by 2020 and reducing emissions by 50 percent by 2050 compared to 2005. In addition to improving the efficiency of airplanes and flight operations, this renewable biofuel represents a major opportunity for commercial aviation to reduce emissions. The approved renewable jet fuel is drop-in and can be blended directly with petroleum jet fuel without any changes to airplanes, engines or fueling infrastructure. Amyris will now begin to quantitatively measure the positive impact to GHG emissions and air quality with every flight using the renewable jet fuel.
About the Companies
Amyris is an integrated renewable products company focused on providing sustainable alternatives to a broad range of petroleum-sourced products. Amyris uses its industrial bioscience technology platform to convert plant sugars into a variety of hydrocarbon molecules -- flexible building blocks that can be used in a wide range of products. Amyris is commercializing these products both as No Compromise® renewable ingredients in cosmetics, flavors and fragrances, polymers, lubricants and consumer products, and also as No Compromise renewable diesel and jet fuel. Amyris Brasil Ltda., a subsidiary of Amyris, oversees the establishment and expansion of Amyris's production in Brazil. More information about Amyris is available at www.amyris.com .
GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A. (Bovespa: GOLL4 ) and (NYSE: GOL ), the largest low-cost and low-fare airline in Latin America, offers around 910 daily flights to 67 destinations in 15 countries in South America, the Caribbean and the United States under the GOL and VARIG brands, using a young, modern fleet of Boeing 737-700 and 737-800. The SMILES loyalty program allows members to accumulate miles and redeem tickets to more than 560 locations around the world via flights with foreign partner airlines. The Company also operates Gollog, a logistics service which retrieves and delivers cargo and packages to and from more than 3,500 cities in Brazil and six abroad. With its portfolio of innovative products and services, GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes offers the best cost-benefit ratio in the market. More information about GOL is available at www.voegol.com
Amyris Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements, and any statements other than statements of historical facts could be deemed to be forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements regarding future events (including additional commercial flights using Amyris-Total aviation biofuel and the performance and benefits of such fuel for the aviation industry and environment) that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on management's current expectations and actual results and future events may differ materially due to risks and uncertainties, including those associated with Amyris's reliance on third parties to achieve its goals, competition, delays or failures in product adoption or acceptance by customers, and other risks detailed in the "Risk Factors" section of Amyris's quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed on May 9, 2014. Amyris disclaims any obligation to update information contained in these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
Amyris, the Amyris logo and No Compromise are trademarks or registered trademarks of Amyris, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Amyris Joel Velasco, Senior Vice President +1 (510) 740-7481 GOL Semayat Oliveira Comunicacao Corporativa/Analista Corporativo: +55 11 2128.4429 Ramal: 4429
