Etihad Airways said Sunday it has flown a Boeing 777 plane on a 45-minute demonstration flight powered in part by biofuel developed in collaboration with French firm Total.

The Abu Dhabi-based carrier has teamed up with Total, US-manufacturer Boeing, local refiner Takreer, and Masdar research institute in an initiative "to support a sustainable aviation biofuel industry in the United Arab Emirates," it said.

Biofuel amounted to 10 percent of the fuel used in the demonstration flight that took off Saturday, a Total spokesman said, pointing out that the biofuel was used in the past in a similar flight during the Paris airshow.

Etihad said the biofuel was partially converted from plants by Total and refined into jet fuel by government-owned Takreer.