Virgin Atlantic flight could drive SAF market

Virgin Atlantic will be the first commercial carrier to make a transatlantic flight powered by 100% sustainable aviation fuel Nov. 28 — and the airline and its partners will be studying contrail effects of aviation on the environment along the way. Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) carbon-free team member Joey Cathcart will be focused on the contrail impact while onboard Flight100, a Boeing 787, as it departs London Heathrow Airport (LHR) for John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). RMI is a nonprofit aimed at clean energy transition research based in Colorado. “I think there is a significant opportunity for contrail mitigation strategies to really have a significant impact on reducing the aviation industry’s climate impact,” Cathcart told Air Cargo Next . “It’s roughly less than 10% of flights that create about 80% of the warming impact on contrails. So, if the industry can focus on those key roots, there’s high potential for significant impact.” During the past year, Virgin and its partners, including Rolls Royce , Boeing , RMI, U.K. Department of Transport , University of Sheffield and the Imperial College of London, have been preparing for the flight with hopes it will be a milestone toward reaching IATA ’s 2050 net zero targets. Cathcart said the flight will be a “driver and catalyst” for the SAF market to really take off. “I think [we’re] advancing the supply side [of SAF] and working to get projects that are currently being proposed to get to a final investment decision to increase the production volumes that are generally limited in the industry,” Cathcart said. “Flights, like the Virgin Atlantic one, operating on 100%, sustainable aviation fuel are really sending a very strong demand signal.” SAF vital to net zero targets SAF is commonly thought to be the surest way toward achieving net zero targets in aviation , despite its current low feedstock and high cost when compared with traditional jet fuel. “Alongside fleet transformation, SAF is the most readily available way for our industry to decarbonize, but currently there’s not enough supply and, without it and the radical collaboration required to produce it, we can’t meet our 2030 targets,” Virgin Chief Executive Shai Weiss said in the press release announcing the 100% SAF flight. “We need U.K. government support to create a U.K. SAF industry to allow for every single flight out of the U.K. to operate with 100% SAF.” Virgin set a goal to use 10% SAF on all its flights by 2030. It is estimated that some 450 billion liters of sustainable aviation fuel will be needed to achieve net zero targets by 2050, according to TIACA Director General Glyn Hughes. Last year, 322 million liters of SAF were produced globally, according to IATA. When Flight100 departs, it will use 60 tonnes of SAF supplied by Virent and Air bp. Despite the flight being a first for a commercial aircraft of its size, Cathcart said he has no doubts. “I’m very confident in the team that has been working on this project,” Cathcart said. “It’s really been a radical collaboration effort by the entire consortium of partners. And it’s been a year in the making. And all the appropriate safety measures have been taken and verified. So yeah, confidence is very high.” Join Air Cargo Next for the free webinar, “The future of AI in air cargo,” on Tuesday, Dec. 5, at 11 a.m. ET. More information about the webinar and registration is available here .

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