Virgin airliner crosses Atlantic powered only by sustainable aviation fuel

By Nicky Godding

28 November 2023

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One of Virgin Atlantic’s Boeing 787s took off for a world-first flight from London Heathrow to JFK International Airport, New York today powered by 100 per cent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The Transport Secretary (and MP for the Forest of Dean) Mark Harper, travelled on the flight alongside Virgin Atlantic Chief Executive Shai Weiss and Virgin’s founder, Sir Richard Branson, making them the first commercial airline to fly across the pond without the use of any fossil-based jet fuel.

The historic trip is powered by SAF made from waste fats that cannot enter the food chain. Repurposing waste products into jet fuel to cut emissions provides the most immediate solution to help decarbonise our skies.

Miles: 3543
Aircraft: Boeing 787
Amount of SAF: 60 tonnes (for testing and the flight itself)

Virgin Atlantic and its 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 per cent SAF. 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 per cent when compared against standard jet fuel over its life cycle.

Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, said: "Today’s historic flight, powered by 100 per cent sustainable aviation fuel, shows how we can decarbonise transport and enable passengers to keep flying when and where they want."

SAF will become an increasing part of the standard jet fuel mix, driven by our upcoming SAF mandate, with at least 10 per cent 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.

Sir Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Atlantic, 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. Virgin Atlantic has been challenging the status quo and pushing the aviation industry to never settle and do better since 1984.

"Fast forward nearly 40 years, that pioneering spirit continues to be Virgin Atlantic’s beating heart as it pushes the boundaries from carbon fibre aircraft and fleet upgrades to sustainable fuels. I couldn’t be prouder to be onboard Flight100 today alongside the teams at Virgin Atlantic and our partners, which have been working together to set the flight path for the decarbonisation of long-haul aviation."

Shai Weiss, Chief Executive Officer, Virgin Atlantic, added: "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."

When he arrives in New York the Transport Secretary will co-chair a SAF Investor Summit to further unlock private investment into sustainable aviation.

The Transport Secretary will then travel to San Francisco to meet with US Automated Vehicles operators, seeing how the UK can become a new global hub for developing self-driving cars.

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.