Virgin Atlantic Plans to Become First Major Airline to Fly Transatlantic Using 100 Percent SAF Tomorrow
Virgin Atlantic will use 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel on a flight from London to New York tomorrow, November 28th.
(London, United Kingdom) A Virgin Atlantic-led consortium announced that it plans to fly the world’s first transatlantic commercial flight using 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel tomorrow, November 28th, following confirmation of a successful SAF-blend ground test on the Rolls Royce Trend 1000 engine today.
Photo courtesy of Virgin Atlantic.
Tomorrow’s flight will travel from Heathrow Airport (IATA: LHR, ICAO: EGLL) in London to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (IATA: JFK, ICAO: KJFK, FAA LID: JFK) on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
The news comes just over a week after Gulfstream Aerospace completed the first-ever transatlantic flight using 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on November 19th, via a Gulfstream G600 powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW815GA engines.
Fuel suppliers Air bp and Virent Virent will supply the 60 tonnes of SAF required for the Virgin flight. The SAF will be produced through the Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) pathway as well as synthetic aromatic kerosene (SAK) SAF at an 88% and 12% blend ratio, according to a press release from Virgin Atlantic.
“Virgin Atlantic is committed to finding more sustainable ways to fly on our mission to Net Zero 2050,” read a press release from Virgin.
The company explained that SAF typically delivers CO2 lifecycle emissions savings of more than 70 percent while performing like traditional jet fuel. Today, SAF represents less than 0.1% of jet fuel volumes and fuel standards allow for a maximum 50% SAF blend in commercial jet engines; the one-off flight tomorrow is intended to demonstrate the potential of SAF as a 100% drop-in replacement for fossil fuel.
