Virgin pilots first transatlantic flight with low-carbon fuel

AFP |  London, United Kingdom

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

British airline Virgin Atlantic yesterday piloted the first long-haul flight powered entirely by Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), an event environmental groups labelled “greenwashing”.

The Boeing 787 plane equipped with Rolls-Royce engines departed from London’s Heathrow airport shortly before 1200 GMT, headed for New York’s JFK minus cargo and paying passengers.

“The world will always assume something can’t be done until you do it,” Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson said before joining the flight.

“The spirit of innovation is getting out there and trying to prove that we can do things better for everyone’s benefit.” Virgin said it was the first time SAF had been used “in both engines, by a commercial airline, for long-haul flight”.

SAFs are produced from renewable biomass and waste resources and can be used in jet fuel in modern aircraft to a maximum of 50 percent, having been blended with kerosene.

They are seen as the main tool for decar - bonising the aviation sector over the coming decades, but the technology is still in its infancy and production remains very expensive.

Also, they are used in combustion engines that still generate carbon dioxide. Decarbonisation takes place further upstream by reusing plant matter instead of extracting hydrocarbons.

‘Jet Zero’ The UK government announced last December that it was providing up to £1 million ($1.26 million) in support of the project, led by Virgin in collaboration with the University of Sheffield, US aircraft manufacturer Boeing and British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce.

Speaking ahead of take-off, British Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the government “will continue to support the UK’s emerging SAF industry as it creates jobs, grows the economy and gets us to Jet Zero”.