Sustainable Biz Magazine A4 March 2023 - Flipbook - Page 5
World’s first net zero transatlantic flight
to fly from London in 2023, powered by
the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000
T
he first ever net zero
transatlantic flight will take
off from the UK this year,
with Virgin Atlantic receiving
government funding to fly across the
pond using solely sustainable aviation
fuel (SAF).
In 2023, one of Virgin Atlantic’s
flagship Boeing 787s, powered by
Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines, will
take off from London Heathrow and
make the journey to New York’s John
F Kennedy Airport – a journey made
by thousands of people for business,
family, and leisure every week. But
this will be no ordinary journey.
When fully replacing kerosene, SAF
can slash lifecycle carbon emissions
by more than 70% compared to
"When fully replacing
kerosene, SAF can slash
lifecycle carbon emissions
by more than 70%
compared to conventional
fossil jet fuel"
conventional fossil jet fuel. This flight
is expected to be fuelled by SAF made
primarily from waste oils and fats,
such as used cooking oil. The use of
100% SAF on the flight, combined
with carbon removal through biochar
credits – a material which traps
and stores carbon taken from the
atmosphere – will make the flight net
zero.
Not only will SAF be key in
decarbonising aviation, but it could
create a UK industry with an annual
turnover of £2.4bn by 2040, and
which supports up to 5,200 UK jobs
by 2035.
Aviation is one of the hardest sectors
to decarbonise and without urgent
collaborative action it could be one
of the highest emitting sectors for
greenhouse gases by 2050. To tackle
this, the government published the Jet
Zero Strategy in July 2022 which sets
out their approach for decarbonising
the sector and champions SAF as one
of the main tools for achieving Jet
Zero.
Challenges remain, however, including
the need to scale up SAF production
and the existing limit on how much
SAF is permitted in jet engines by
current fuel specifications. Today, a
maximum of 50% SAF blended with
kerosene can be used in commercial
jet engines. By using 100% SAF, the
consortium will demonstrate the
potential to decarbonise long-haul
routes and bring us a step closer to
net zero aviation.
It comes hot off the heels of the
world’s first sustainable fuel military
transporter flight using 100% SAF,
completed by the RAF using the iconic
Voyager aircraft.
Other challenges preventing a higher
uptake of SAF include high fuel
production costs, technology risk
at commercial scale and feedstock
availability. To address these, the
government is working to set the
UK up to be a global leader in the
development, production and use
of SAF, allowing us to progress
towards net zero flying, and creating
thousands of green jobs.
It is introducing a SAF mandate
requiring at least 10% of jet fuel to be
made from sustainable sources by
2030 to create secure and growing
demand, continuing to invest in
a domestic SAF industry through
the £165m Advanced Fuels Fund,
and working with the industry and
investors to understand how to
secure long-term investment into the
sector.
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