Virgin Completes 100 Percent SAF Flight

A Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 became the first airliner to cross the Atlantic using 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on Tuesday, but it will make the return flight on Jet A. The Dreamliner touched down at JFK after an uneventful flight from Heathrow, but Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson did his best to make it an event. He told reporters on the ramp at Heathrow the flight was intended to put a spotlight on making aviation more climate friendly and to send a message to fuel producers that customers like him are anxious to have alternatives to fossil fuels. "The world will always assume something can't be done, until you do it,” Branson, who was joined by politicians, journalists, business and government officials on the flight, told media. There were no paying passengers onboard and Virgin needed a waiver from the British government to operate the flight because current rules limit the use of SAF to a maximum 50-50 blend with Jet A.

Climate activists dismissed the flight, which was funded in part by a $1.27 million grant from the U.K. government, as a meaningless stunt. "The idea that this flight somehow gets us closer to guilt-free flying is a joke," said Cait Hewitt, policy director for the Aviation Environment Federation, told the Associated Press. She said SAF is "around 0.1 percent of aviation fuel globally and will be very hard to scale up sustainably.” The fuel used in the 787 had to be tweaked a little before it could be safely used. It was derived mainly from used cooking oil and waste animal fat, but SAF lacks aromatics present in petroleum that are necessary for proper operation of the engines.  “Synthetic aromatic kerosene” made from plant sugars had to be added to SAF to ensure safety, according to the Washington Post.