by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 7:00 PM ET, Tue November 28, 2023
Virgin Atlantic marked a historic moment today operating the world’s first transatlantic flight using 100 percent Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
The Boeing 787 flight took off from London bound for New York’s JFK and was lauded as an example of how SAF is as a drop-in replacement for the fossil-derived fuels typically used by jets.
Virgin said the milestone comes after a year of collaboration between a Virgin-Atlantic led team made up of Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Imperial College London, University of Sheffield, ICF, and the Rocky Mountain Institute — all in partnership with the Department for Transport.
“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 decarbonizing long haul aviation,” Shai Weiss, Chief Executive Officer, Virgin Atlantic, said in a statement issued by the airline. “It’s taken radical collaboration to get here and we’re proud to have reached this important milestone, but we need to push further.”
The aviation industry has set a target for itself of Net Zero by 2050. And reaching that, or a more ambitious goal even, is critical to the health of the planet.
The aviation is responsible for driving 3.5 percent of human-related climate change impacts, according to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a nonprofit environmental advocacy group. In fact, if it were a country, aviation would be one of the top 10 greenhouse gas emitters in the world.
But the industry’s transition to SAF has been challenging on many levels. The SAF market has yet to fully develop and have enough supplies available for major carriers.
In addition, as EDF has pointed out in a previous interview with TravelPulse, not all SAF is created equal. Some processes for developing SAF can do more environmental damage than good.
Still, as Virgin Atlantic underscored in its press release today, SAF is critical to the decarbonisation of long haul aviation, and pathway to Net Zero 2050.
The fuel, made from waste products, delivers CO2 lifecycle emissions savings of up to 70 percent, while still performing like the traditional jet fuel it replaces.
What’s more, other technologies such as electric and hydrogen remain decades away, Virgin Atlantic pointed out. But SAF is currently available.
However, SAF only represents less than 0.1 percent of global jet fuel volumes and current fuel standards only allow for use of 50 percent SAF blend in commercial jet engines.
Virgin Atlantic said that Flight100 will prove that the challenge of scaling up production is one of “policy and investment,” and the airline said that “industry and government must move quickly to create a thriving UK SAF industry.”
Other aviation industry groups have made similar calls for governments to step up their actions in facilitating the transition to SAF.
Just this week, the International Civil Aviation Organization announced a new global framework for the transition to Sustainable Aviation Fuels, that calls for a 5 percent reduction in carbon intensity in the aviation industry by 2030.
The new framework was announced as part of the Third Conference on Aviation Alternative Fuels (CAAF/3), which was hosted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Dubai.
In making the announcement, industry leaders called on governments around the world to do their part now and enact support systems that will help expedite SAF availability and adoption.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s Director General Willie Walsh said in a statement. That governments need to “urgently put the strongest possible policies in place to unlock the full potential of a global SAF market with an exponential increase in production.”
Walsh added that there is a “need for policies that enable real progress. There is no time to lose.”
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