November is a big month for clean aviation! Virgin Atlantic is running the world’s first transatlantic flight powered solely by sustainable aviation fuels, today. It took off at 11:50am from London Heathrow for New York JFK.
This is an important milestone – it demonstrates to the world that a greener way of flying is possible
However, there are huge supply and cost challenges to overcome before we can expect to see widespread use of sustainable jet fuels. Back in the early 2010s, IATA announced a goal to have 10% of the aviation industry running on SAF by 2017[1] … But fast-forward to 2023, and SAF makes up only 0.1% of jet fuel globally![2] We literally had millions of tonnes more work to do than we thought!
The UK government is one that’s getting behind SAF; today’s flight has been supported by government funding. In addition, it pledges that it’ll have five commercial scale SAF plants under construction by 2025. At the Aviation Carbon event earlier this month, Aviation and Maritime Minister Baroness Vere promised that she will introduce a SAF mandate by 2025 that will commit to 10% of the country’s jet fuel coming from SAF by the end of the decade.
In the meantime, the Baroness told an audience of airline executives to “modernise their operations” to cut emissions fast… including via their technology. The journey to SAF will undoubtedly be long – and will require partnership, investment and talent from corporations, governments and investors. In the meantime, here are seven fun facts about SAF:
