In an aviation milestone, a Virgin Atlantic aircraft landed in New York on Tuesday after completing the first ever transatlantic commercial passenger flight powered entirely by sustainable alternative fuels (SAFs). The Boeing 787 Dreamliner was fueled by a blend of waste cooking oil, animal fats, and other greener fuel sources for its journey from London Heathrow.
Dubbed ‘a flight of the future’ by the airline, the history-making trip demonstrated the potential of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) to drastically cut emissions from air travel while allowing the industry to work towards its net zero by 2050 target.
A New Era for Green Flying is Cleared for Takeoff
While passengers onboard may not have noticed any difference, the flight represented a major step in decarbonizing aviation. By using fuel from waste products instead of traditional jet fuel, net emissions over the lifecycle were slashed by around 70% compared to a normal London-New York trip.
The plane’s Rolls Royce engines still released CO2 during the flight. But by removing the need for fossil fuel-intensive jet fuel, SAFs offer a more climate-friendly way to power aviation’s journey to net zero.
As Virgin Atlantic’s President Sir Richard Branson, who was onboard the latest landmark journey, said:
“This flight heralds a new era for aviation fuel. I was thinking of my previous firsts across the Atlantic, whether by balloon or boat. I’m very glad this will be my first powered entirely by waste products that land at an airport.”
Are SAFs Really a Silver Bullet?
However, some environmental groups argued the flight was merely a publicity stunt rather than proof that SAFs can sustainably scale-up to meet future demands.
Critics pointed out such demonstration flights distract from the huge obstacles still facing cost-effective, low carbon alternatives to power an industry committed to continued growth in the coming years.
Tim Johnson, Director of the Aviation Environment Federation, said: “The idea this is a landmark that will revolutionize flying is clearly not the case.”
SAFs Sky High Potential Tempered by Hurdles
Indeed, SAFs still only account for a tiny 0.1% of global jet fuel use. The stuff is significantly more expensive to produce than regular jet fuel, meaning far greater incentives and investments are needed to ramp up output.
And many campaigners questioned whether some feedstocks for SAFs, like crops, waste oils and animal fats, are truly scalable or sustainable enough to radically transform aviation emissions.
Still, industry leaders maintain SAFs are currently the best shot at curbing emissions from flight, with breakthrough technologies like hydrogen planes still years if not decades away.
Shai Weiss, Virgin Atlantic CEO, said: “There’s simply not enough SAF. It’s clear that in order to reach production at scale, we need to see significantly more investment.”
Figures from airline trade body IATA showed SAF production tripled last year. But aviation would need a mammoth 450 billion litres of SAFs annually by 2050 to meet its net zero climate commitment.
Adina Vălean, EU Transport Commissioner, voiced concerns over the slow pace of SAF production growth so far, despite policy efforts like the bloc’s jet fuel mandate.
Fede Berra, CEO of aviation at BP, which plans major investments in SAFs, said: “There is demand for sure…but are those demand signals sufficient for investment at scale? There is still uncertainty.”
Some smaller SAF producers have already run into financial trouble trying to scale up, like renewable fuel firm Velocys which saw its shares nosedived 95% this year.
Charting the Course Ahead
Aviation leaders know that unless they can prove SAF’s green credentials and rapidly boost sustainable fuel supplies, the industry risks greater public pressure and regulation curbing future growth.
As passenger flights continue to soar globally alongside ever louder calls to tackle emissions, the race is on to build greener, bluer skies.
Jack Duckworth, an aviation consultant, summed up the stakes: “In order for the sector to have social licence to grow we need to see net declines in carbon emissions.”
For now, flights like Virgin’s plant the seeds of a more sustainable future aloft. But it will take the right investments and policies for SAFs’ promised emissions savings to fully take off.
Tuesday’s transatlantic trailblazer may point in the right direction. But only by continuing progress towards cheaper, scaled-up green fuels can aviation’s flightpath match its ambitions for carbon neutral expansion.
