- By Katy Austin
- Transport correspondent
The Virgin Atlantic aircraft making ready for take-off on Tuesday
The first transatlantic flight powered solely by different fuels will take off from the UK on Tuesday morning.
Operated by Virgin Atlantic, it’ll fly from London’s Heathrow to New York’s JFK airport at 11:30 GMT.
Airlines see the flight, which is supported by authorities funding, as demonstrating {that a} greener means of flying is feasible.
But an absence of gasoline provide stays a problem, whereas different expertise can be wanted to hit emissions targets.
The flight is a one-off of its variety up to now, and isn’t carrying fare-paying passengers.
So-called sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) might be produced from quite a lot of sources, together with crops, family waste and cooking oils.
For this flight, a Boeing 787 can be crammed with 50 tonnes of SAF. Two varieties are getting used, with 88% derived from waste fat and the remaining from the wastes of corn manufacturing within the US.
Following check and evaluation, the flight was authorised by UK regulator the Civil Aviation Authority earlier this month. Various corporations have been concerned within the undertaking together with engine-maker Rolls-Royce and vitality large BP.
The aviation trade is especially tough to decarbonise, however airline bosses view SAF as the best instrument out there to assist deliver its web emissions down to zero.
Planes nonetheless emit carbon when using SAF, however the trade says the “lifecycle emissions” of those fuels might be up to 70% decrease.
Shai Weiss, chief govt of Virgin Atlantic, mentioned the airline’s flight on Tuesday was “proving… that fossil-derived fuel can be replaced by sustainable aviation fuel”.
“It’s really the only pathway to decarbonising long-haul aviation over and above having the youngest fleet in the sky,” he advised the BBC’s Today programme. “It is a really momentous achievement.”
However, he mentioned there was not sufficient SAF at the moment. “The issue is how we get enough production here in the UK as part of an industrial revolution and more importantly around the world.”
He admitted that due to the gasoline being dearer, flight costs would find yourself being greater.
SAF is already utilized in small quantities, blended with conventional jet gasoline, however accounts for lower than 0.1% of the aviation gasoline consumed world wide.
It at the moment prices greater than kerosene, and comparatively small quantities are made. Aircraft are normally solely allowed to deplete to 50% in a mix.
There aren’t any devoted business SAF vegetation within the UK, though the federal government intention is to have 5 below development by 2025, supported by grant funding.
Airlines see the primary long-haul flight using 100% SAF as a major milestone. But consultants say such fuels are usually not a magic bullet.
Dr Guy Gratton, affiliate professor of aviation and the surroundings at Cranfield University, mentioned: “We can’t produce a majority of our fuel requirements this way because we just don’t have the feedstocks. And even if you do, these fuels are not true ‘net zeros’.”
He mentioned the rising use of SAF had to be handled as “a stepping stone towards future, genuinely net zero technologies”.
“This might be e-fuels [which are manufactured using captured carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide, together with hydrogen], it might be hydrogen, it might be some technologies that we still really only have at the laboratory stage.”
The coverage director of the Aviation Environment Federation marketing campaign group, Cait Hewitt, mentioned the concept the flight meant the UK was nearer to “guilt-free” flying was “a joke”.
She mentioned that the hope is there can be higher expertise sooner or later to reduce carbon emissions however, for now, the one means to obtain that is to “fly less”.
UK ministers and the trade have insisted they imagine “net zero” by 2050 is achievable with passenger numbers growing.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper advised BBC Breakfast: “There are these campaigners who need to inform bizarre those who they can not fly. That’s their view, they’re entitled to it. The authorities would not agree with them.
“Using sustainable aviation gasoline implies that over its life cycle we produce round 70% much less carbon emissions than conventional fuels so that may be a actually huge step ahead,” he added.
“We are additionally concerned with supporting the trade develop hydrogen and in addition electrical flights for shorter-haul flights, so all of that expertise is being developed.”
Mr Harper acknowledged that using sustainable aviation fuels “will not be the one resolution” but he said: “It is a very necessary step with these different applied sciences to be certain that we are able to stick with it flying and shield the surroundings.”
The UK authorities plans to require 10% of aviation gasoline to be SAF by 2030.
Airlines UK, which represents UK-registered carriers, mentioned they should be ready to entry sufficient reasonably priced SAF to meet such a requirement, with as a lot as attainable coming from the UK.
Its boss Tim Alderslade mentioned: “The last item we would like is greater gasoline prices for UK passengers in contrast to the remainder of Europe and the US, with worse sustainability outcomes and 1000’s of latest jobs misplaced abroad.”
