Virgin Atlantic use 100% sustainable aviation fuel for the first-time

On the 28th of November 2023, Virgin Atlantic will fly to New York from London operating on 100% sustainable aviation fuel. This was permitted by the UK as they pave their way for the first-use in the world of sustainable aviation fuel. This comes with the efforts of decarbonising travel.

Due to this revolution, airlines are now with high hopes for sustainable aviation fuel. This new type of fuel will adopt waste like cooking oil to limit carbon emissions by nearly 70% in comparison to trasntional fossil fuels used by airlines. In the coming decades, the aerospace sector expects to see new eclectic and hydrogen-powered options as well.

At the moment, sustainable aviation fuel is harnessed to power jet engines, however this is mixed with trasntional kerosene.

Virgin Atlantic are the first airline to be granted permission for a transatlantic flight powered purely by sustainable aviation fuel, which will assist in decarbonising flying.

This permission was granted after a multiudue of technical reviews carried out by the UK regulator. One of these reviews was carried out running the Rolls-Royce trend 1000 engine.

Now, Virgin Atlantic need to ask for permission from regulators in the USA, Ireland and Canada as well.

By 2030, airlines are targeting that sustainable aviation fuel will grow to 10% of all aviation fuel usage for flights, im comparison to just 0.5% in 2021. This figure will assist the erospace sectors goal of zero carbon emissions in 2050.

Final Thoughts

Virgin Atlantic hope that the flight from London to New York will attract the need to make sustainable aviation fuel more readily available to airlines. At the moment, sustainable aviation fuel is only made in small amounts, and is extremely expensive, so it is important that it is made more accessible to the industry in order to lower carbon emissions and meet 2050’s target.

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