LONDON — Virgin Atlantic conducted the world’s first flight of a commercial aircraft powered by biofuel yesterday in an effort to show it can produce less carbon dioxide than normal jet fuels.

“This breakthrough will help Virgin Atlantic to fly its planes using clean fuel sooner than expected,” Chairman of Virgin Group Richard Branson, said before the Boeing 747 flew from Heathrow Airport to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. “The demonstration flight will give us crucial knowledge that we can use to dramatically reduce our carbon footprint,” he said.

Some analysts praised the jumbo jet test flight as a potentially useful experiment. But others criticized it as a publicity stunt by Branson, and noted it comes as scientists are questioning the environmental benefits of biofuels.

“It’s great that somebody like Branson is willing to put some of his billions into an experiment aimed at reducing the climate change impact of aviation,” said James Halstead, an airline analyst at the London stockbroker Dawnay Day Lochart. “But there are a lot of unanswered questions about the usefulness of biofuels in the battle against global warming.”

Sunday’s flight, which landed safely in the Netherlands, was partially fueled with a biofuel mixture of coconut and babassu oil in one of its four main fuel tanks. The jet carried pilots and several technicians, but no passengers.

Virgin Atlantic spokesman Paul Charles predicted the biofuel would produce much less CO2 than regular jet fuel, but said it would take weeks to analyze the data from yesterday’s flight.

It is just the latest example of how the world’s airlines are jumping on the environmental bandwagon by trying to find ways of reducing aviation’s carbon footprint.

These efforts have included everything from finding alternative jet fuels, to developing engines that burn existing fuels more slowly, to changing the way planes land.

The experiment by Virgin Atlantic and its partners — Boeing, General Electric and Imperium Renewables — also comes at a time when high oil prices and the US economic slowdown are promoting consolidation in the airline industry.

Aircraft engines cause noise pollution and emit gases and particulates that reduce air quality and contribute to global warming and global dimming, where dust and ash from natural and industrial sources block the sun to create a cooling effect.

About a year ago, the European Commission said greenhouse gas emissions from aviation account for about 3 percent of the total in the European Union and have increased by 87 percent since 1990 as air travel cheapened.

Charles said Virgin’s Boeing 747-400 jet and its engines did not have to be redesigned to use biofuel on the test flight.

He said CO2 emissions on a normal flight are generally three times the fuel burned, and that technical engineers on the test flight will take readings and analyze data to estimate its greenhouse gas emissions.