Air New Zealand said it will conduct its first trial of biofuel on one of its Boeing 747 aircraft on a flight next month.

The airline said this week the biofuel will include 50 per cent standard jet fuel and synthetic fuel made from the oil from seeds of the jatropha plant.

Air New Zealand's chief pilot David Morgan said the two-hour test flight would be held on December 3 with the jatropha blend fuelling one of the four engines.

"Various procedures will be carried out during the test flight to confirm and measure the performance of the engine being operated with this fuel," Morgan said in a statement.

Rolls-Royce fuels specialist Chris Lewis said the properties of the fuel would be virtually indistinguishable from conventional fuel.

The jatropha oil will come from plants grown in east Africa and Air New Zealand said they could be grown in a range of difficult conditions, including arid and otherwise non-arable areas.

The test flight is a joint venture between Air New Zealand, Boeing, Rolls-Royce and UOP, a Honeywell company, and the airline said it was part of efforts to make commercial aviation more sustainable, amid climate change fears.

British-based Virgin Atlantic became the first airline to try a biofuel in February on a flight between London and Amsterdam, using a blend including coconut oil and babassu nut oil.