The first transatlantic flight using 100 per cent sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) is due to take off on Tuesday (28 November) when it flies from London to New York.
The milestone test flight on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft is being operated by Virgin Atlantic from London Heathrow to New York JFK airport with financial support provided by the UK government.
Virgin’s flight, which the airline has dubbed Flight100, is due to take off from Heathrow at 11.30am and will not carry paying passengers. It will be used to show that using 100 per cent SAF on a long-haul flight is safe, as well as to conduct more research into the impact on the flight’s non-carbon emissions.
Virgin Atlantic’s CEO Shai Weiss 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, backed by government, are in place.”
Virgin will use a blend of two sustainable fuels onboard today’s historic flight: HEFA (Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids), which is made from waste fats, and SAK (Synthetic Aromatic Kerosene), produced from plant sugars.
UK transport secretary Mark Harper added: “Today’s historic flight, powered by 100 per cent sustainable aviation fuel, shows how we can both decarbonise transport and enable passengers to keep flying when and where they want.
“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.”