History will be made at London’s Heathrow Airport today when a Virgin Atlantic test flight to New York becomes the first transatlantic flight powered by 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
The B787 flight, which has been made possible by up to £1 million in funding from the UK government, is seen as a significant step towards Net Zero 2050, or Jet Zero as it has been christened by the country’s Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, who will be onboard when it takes off at around 11.30am today.
The historic trip is powered by SAF made from waste fats which cannot enter the food chain. Repurposing waste products into jet fuel to cut emissions provides the most immediate solution to help decarbonise our skies.
Virgin Atlantic and their consortium were awarded up to £1 million of UK Government funding in December 2022, following a challenge from the Department for Transport to support the industry in achieving the first transatlantic flight on a commercial aircraft powered by 100% SAF.
According to the UK government, the funding has played a vital role in supporting the testing of today’s fuel and the flight’s operational delivery to make this a reality. It will also provide an opportunity to generate important data that will accelerate SAF approval and boost our understanding of its efficiency.
SAF has a greenhouse gas emissions reduction of around 70% when compared against standard jet fuel over its life cycle – allowing greener travel and keeping the UK connected to the world.
With the world about to convene in Dubai COP 28 this week, today arguably lays down a marker that the UK is already taking action when it comes to tackling the decarbonisation challenges that face the transport sector.
“Today’s historic flight, powered by 100% sustainable aviation fuel, shows how we can both decarbonise transport and enable passengers to keep flying when and where they want,” enthused Harper.
“This government has backed today’s flight to take-off and we will continue to support the UK’s emerging SAF industry as it creates jobs, grows the economy and gets us to Jet Zero.”
SAF will become an increasing part of the standard jet fuel mix, driven by our upcoming SAF mandate, with at least 10% of jet fuel being from sustainable sources in 2030. This will mean that business or leisure travellers can fly knowing their carbon footprint will be lower than ever before.
Also onboard today’s flight will be the airline’s founder, Sir Richard Branson, who said: “The world will always assume something can’t be done, until you do it. The spirit of innovation is getting out there and trying to prove that we can do things better for everyone’s benefit.”
Shai Weiss, CEO of Virgin Atlantic said: “Flight100 proves that Sustainable Aviation Fuel can be used as a safe, drop-in replacement for fossil-derived jet fuel and it’s the only viable solution for decarbonising long haul aviation.
“It’s taken radical collaboration to get here and we’re proud to have reached this important milestone, but we need to push further.
There’s simply not enough SAF and it’s clear that in order to reach production at scale, we need to see significantly more investment. This will only happen when regulatory certainty and price support mechanisms are in place. Flight100 proves that if you make it, we’ll fly it.”