Welcoming Virgin Atlantic’s historic 100% sustainable aviation fuel flight across the Atlantic from London Heathrow to New York JFK, Sustainable Aviation have said:
“Today’s world-first transatlantic flight powered by 100% sustainable aviation fuel on a commercial airline is an exciting milestone on the journey towards aviation’s net-zero future. To ensure we achieve this shared goal, the right government policy and price support needs to be in place to see the scalability of affordable SAF to airlines; alongside the investment in and infrastructure for zero and low emission aviation technologies like hydrogen. Congratulations to the Virgin Atlantic team and partners for this achievement.”
This is just the latest in achievements by the industry and follows a joint industry-RAF flight in a RAF Voyager powered partly by SAF in April.
There are four key components of our plan to achieve net zero, and we are calling on policy-makers to support the industry by:
- Maximising short-term operational efficiencies by accelerating the UK airspace modernisation programme and completing by the end of the decade.
- Delivering commercial UK SAF production at scale this decade by providing a price stability mechanism, alongside a SAF mandate and by prioritising access to UK sustainable feedstocks.
- Investing in zero-emission flight technology by uplifting matched funding levels to the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) programme through to 2031 – to drive efficiency improvements and the development of zero carbon emission technologies, alongside investing in the UK hydrogen supply and airport infrastructure.
- Addressing residual aviation emissions by accelerating the rollout of carbon removals, including them in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and ensuring aviation’s fair share.