Recently, the development of viable alternative aviation fuels has attracted much interest, for several reasons, with reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ensuring security of supply at affordable prices among them. In the present work, several alternative aviation fuels - existing and potential - are investigated by focusing on their heat release: Gas-to-Liquid (GtL: representing a Fischer-Tropsch Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene (FT-SPK)), a fully synthetic jet fuel (FSJF: Coal-to-Liquid (CtL)), and blends of GtL with 20% 1-hexanol or 50% naphthenic cut, respectively. Burning velocities are measured at ambient pressures and at elevated preheat temperatures exploiting the cone-angle method; equivalence ratios are between about phi = 1.0 and phi = 1.4. The measured data are used for the validation of a detailed chemical reaction model consisting of 4642 reactions involving 1075 species developed by Dagaut et al. [22,23] following the concept of a surrogate. The comparison between measured burning velocities and predicted laminar flame speeds shows reasonably good agreement with the model for the range of conditions considered in this study. The main features of the reaction model are also discussed, using sensitivity and rate of production analysis. Finally, the experimental data are compared with results obtained earlier for crude-oil kerosene. The findings support the potential of the investigated fuel mixtures to serve as alternative aviation fuels. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.