OCANA (Spain) - US aircraft maker Boeing flew a plane that was powered by a hydrogen battery at the start of 2008 'for the first in the history of aviation', a senior company official said on Thursday in Spain.

Boeing chief technology officer John Tracy said the development was 'full of promises for a greener future' at a press conference at a Boeing research centre in the central Spanish town of Ocana.

'This is a historical technological success for Boeing,' he added.

The plane, which used propellers, flew in a straight line for about 20 minutes at an altitude of about 1,000m, Boeing said in a statement distributed at the press conference.

'Boeing announced today that it has, for the first time in aviation history, flown a manned airplane powered by hydrogen fuel cells,' it said. -- AFP