On Tuesday, November 28, a plane from London to New York was scheduled to make its first transatlantic flight powered entirely by sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).
The first transatlantic flight using only sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) was set to take place on Tuesday, November 28. The plane was scheduled to take off from London to New York.
With financial assistance from the UK government, Virgin Atlantic conducted the historic test flight on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner from London Heathrow to New York’s JFK airport.
Virgin's flight, which it has named Flight100, was scheduled to depart Heathrow at 11.30 am and did not carry any paying customers. The test flight will be utilized to further investigate the effect on the flight's non-carbon emissions and demonstrate the safety of deploying 100% SAF on a long-haul flight.
The Virgin Atlantic CEO, Shai Weiss said in a statement that the Flight100 test flight proves sustainable aviation fuel can be a viable solution.
During this historic flight, Virgin used a blend of two sustainable fuels: synthetic aromatic kerosene (SAK), which is made from plant sugars, and hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA), which is made from waste fats.
Mark Harper, the transport secretary for the United Kingdom, stated that the historic flight — which was made possible by entirely sustainable aviation fuel — illustrates how they can decarbonize transportation while also allowing passengers to continue traveling whenever and wherever they choose.
