The first transatlantic flight by an airliner using pure sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) took off from the UK last month.
One of Virgin Atlantic’s Boeing 787s flew from London Heathrow to JFK International Airport. SAF is derived from a range of sources, such as cooking oils or household waste.
The UK’s Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, travelled on the flight (dubbed Flight100) alongside Virgin Atlantic chief executive Shai Weiss and Virgin’s founder, Sir Richard Branson. The historic trip was powered by SAF made from waste fats that cannot enter the food chain.
Mark Harper said: “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.”
Virgin Atlantic’s Shai Weiss said: “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.”
