Virgin Atlantic to launch 1st zero-emissions transatlantic flight

The first plane to cross the Atlantic powered only by sustainable jet fuel will take off next year, a milestone that the industry hopes will spur greater investment in new technology.

Using the fuel would mean Virgin Atlantic’s Boeing 787 test flight between London’s Heathrow and New York’s John F. Kennedy airports would be the first transatlantic flight to produce net zero emissions, the report announced. British government.

Sustainable aviation fuels, or SAF, are not based on fossil fuels and are produced primarily using forestry or agricultural waste. The use of these fuels can reduce carbon emissions by around 70%.

For the Virgin flight to reach “net zero emissions” status, the remaining 30% of emissions would have to be offset by investments in technology to remove carbon from the atmosphere, according to the UK government.

Aviation safety authorities allow a maximum use of 50% SAF mixed with kerosene in the engines of commercial jets, but Baroness Vere, British Transport Minister, announced that the flight would demonstrate that it is safe to fully fuel a passenger aircraft with the new fuels.

The aviation sector depends almost completely on AFS to reduce its carbon emissions to zero by 2050, as other less polluting technologies, such as electric or hydrogen-powered planes, have yet to be tested on a commercial scale.

SAF fuels are significantly more expensive than traditional kerosene, however, and for now are only produced in minuscule quantities.

The industry estimates that around 450 billion liters of SAF will be needed per year, until 2050. The annual production of SAF in 2021 was only one hundred million liters.

The United Kingdom invested a symbolic amount of one million pounds in support of the Virgin flight, and promised 165 million pounds (R$ 1 billion) to accelerate the commercialization of the SAF. It also established a rule calling for 10% of jet fuel to come from sustainable sources by 2030 to help stimulate demand.

But airlines and airports have been urging the government to do much more, notably creating “contracts for difference” (CFDs) to set a fixed price for fuel underwritten by the government, similar to what it happens in projects of nuclear power plants and offshore wind farms encouraged by the State.

Shai Weiss, chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, said the government’s support was welcome but represented “a drop in the ocean” compared to the money being poured into the United States in support of green energy development. .

“We need the government to create an environment that promotes and really encourages AFS in the UK,” he said.

Another aviation executive praised the government’s work but said the “grand prize” was a price stability mechanism, without which “we won’t see British power plants built and we’ll have to import”.

Vere said there was no decision at the moment on whether to maintain support for the sector, but he did not rule out CFDs and insisted that the UK was “at the forefront” of SAF production, with a target of five new plants under construction in the country by 2025.

“This type of industry will replace many of the old industries that have declined,” she said.

Weiss said that reducing the cost of AFS required multi-sector participation, with more investment from government, airlines, major oil companies and corporate customers.

“There is no single body capable of resolving this issue on its own. The cost will have to be shared by all if we are to ensure that air transport continues sustainably.”

Translated by Paulo Migliacci