Home Business NewsBusinessAviation NewsFirst transatlantic flight takes off for New York using only cooking oil and agricultural waste

First transatlantic flight takes off for New York using only cooking oil and agricultural waste

by LLB staff reporter
28th Nov 23 10:37 am

The first transatlantic flight takes off from Heathrow Airport using agricultural waste and cooking oil for New York JFK.

The Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is using pure sustainable aviation fuel known as (Saf) which shows โ€œhow we can decarbonise transport.โ€

Sir Richard Branson the founder of Virgin, Harper and Virgin Atlantic chief executive Shai Weiss are amongst the passengers on flight that is not carrying fare-paying travellers.

The Transport Secretary said, โ€œTodayโ€™s 100% Saf-powered flight shows how we can decarbonise transport both now and in the future, cutting lifecycle emissions by 70% and inspiring the next generation of solutions.

โ€œThis government has backed todayโ€™s flight to take off and we will continue to support the UKโ€™s emerging Saf industry as it creates jobs, grows the economy and gets us to jet zero.โ€

Harper was asked if the greenest option is not to fly, he told BBC Breakfast, โ€œpeople want to fly and this Government wants to make sure they can continue doing so, but in a way that delivers on our environmental provisions.โ€

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Sir Richard said, โ€œThe world will always assume something canโ€™t be done, until you do it.

โ€œThe spirit of innovation is getting out there and trying to prove that we can do things better for everyoneโ€™s benefit.

โ€œVirgin Atlantic has been challenging the status quo and pushing the aviation industry to never settle and do better since 1984.โ€

Weiss said, โ€œGetting to this point has been more than a year in the making and taken radical collaboration across our consortium partners and Government.

โ€œWeโ€™re committed to using 10% Saf by 2030, but to get there we need the Government to support the creation of a UK Saf industry.

โ€œWe know that if we can make it, we can fly it.โ€

Campaign group the Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) policy director Cait Hewitt said: โ€œThe idea that this flight somehow gets us closer to guilt-free flying is a joke.

โ€œSaf represent around 0.1% of aviation fuel globally and will be very hard to scale up sustainably.โ€

Hewitt added, โ€œHopefully, weโ€™ll have better technological solutions in future but, for now, the only way to cut CO2 from aviation is to fly less.โ€

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