Fully Powered SAF Flight to Take-off from Heathrow Next Year

December 17, 2022

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(Biofuels International) The world’s first net-zero transatlantic flight will take off from the UK next year with Virgin Atlantic set to fly one of its Boeing 787 aircraft from London to New York using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The airline has received UK government funding for the flight to show how SAF could replace conventional jet fuel.

It will work with a consortium that includes Rolls-Royce, Boeing, Pratt & Whitney Canada, Imperial College London, University of Sheffield, RMI, and ICF. When fully replacing kerosene, SAF can slash lifecycle carbon emissions by more than 70%, compared to conventional fossil jet fuel.

Virgin Atlantic’s flight is expected to be fuelled by SAF made primarily from waste oils and fats, such as used cooking oil. READ MORE

World’s first net zero transatlantic flight to fly from London in 2023: Virgin Atlantic is set to launch the first ever net zero, solely sustainable aviation fuelled transatlantic flight from the UK in 2023. (International Airport Review)

Virgin to fly ‘net-zero’ transatlantic Boeing 787 (CNN)

Virgin Atlantic to operate historic net zero transatlantic flight (Virgin)

World’s first net zero transatlantic flight to fly from London in 2023 (Imperial College London)

World’s first net zero transatlantic flight to fly from London in 2023 Powered by the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 (Rolls-Royce)

Net-Zero Reached? Virgin Atlantic Plans A 100% SAF Passenger Flight Next Year -- The airline has been awarded funding from the UK government to operate the flight together with Rolls-Royce and Boeing (Simple Flying)

World’s first net zero transatlantic flight to fly from London in 2023 -- Virgin Atlantic wins competition to receive government funding for the first ever net zero transatlantic flight. (UK Department for Transport and The Rt Hon Mark Harper MP)

Virgin Atlantic targeting November for first transatlantic 100% SAF net zero flight (GreenAir Online)

Excerpt from CNN: In a statement, the UK government, which contributed funds for the project, claimed the transatlantic flight will be totally net zero in terms of carbon output due to the SAF, and because it will offset any emissions through "biochar credits" -- payments that support the use of an energy process that results in the safe storage of carbon.

While the flight is likely to be seen as a step in the right direction for aviation, it will do little to win over critics who have said similar one-off projects are aimed more at easing the conscience of passengers. They say the air industry is trying to give the impression it's on the brink of full sustainability, rather than its stated goal of halving 2005 emission levels by 2050, and that SAF use can still have environmental consequences.

In a statement announcing the flight, Virgin Atlantic CEO Shari Weiss suggested "the research and results" of the pioneering 2023 flight "will be a huge step in fast tracking SAF use across the aviation industry and support the investment, collaboration and urgency needed to produce SAF at scale."

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SAF's not a new invention -- it's actually been around since 2011, and IATA data says that since then, more than 450,000 flights have taken to the skies powered, at least in part, by SAF.

Despite its potential to reduce airplane environmental impact, SAF use is still limited due to costs associated with production and regulatory concerns.

"There's no real business case for the sector to invest in it at the moment," Andreas Schafer, a professor of energy and transport at University College London, told CNN Travel earlier in 2022.

Still, one of SAF's major advantages is it can be used in pre-existing aircraft -- like Virgin's 787 -- with little need for expensive modifications.

"This is critical and very beneficial for the aviation industry, because there is no need to invest in new infrastructure or new aircraft, and it's great for airports too, because they can use the same storage and fueling infrastructure -- from that perspective, SAF is excellent," said Schafer.

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Virgin Atlantic's upcoming flight has also involved plane maker Boeing and engine builder Rolls-Royce.

Virgin's 787 is installed with Trent 1000 engines, which Rolls-Royce says have previously been proven to fly with a blend of SAF and conventional jet fuel.

Rolls-Royce Head of Sustainability Rachel Everard added that, thanks to the flight, "by the the end of 2023 we will have proven that our whole family of Trent engines and business aviation engines are compatible with 100% SAF."

Other high profile SAF tests have taken place recently. In March 2022, an Airbus flew an A380 for three hours powered by SAF. In 2021, United Airlines flew one of its aircraft from Chicago to Washington, powered by SAF. READ MORE

Excerpt from Imperial College London: The passenger flight from London to New York will be fuelled by 100 per cent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), combined with carbon removal through biochar credits – a material that traps and stores carbon taken from the atmosphere – making the flight net zero. The initiative is funded by the UK government’s Department for Transport.

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Imperial College London researchers will work with Virgin Atlantic, Rolls-Royce, Boeing, and the University of Sheffield to advise the flight team on energy-efficient routes and analyse the wealth of data on carbon and non-carbon emissions gathered from the Boeing 787 flight.

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When hot exhaust gases from aircraft meet the cold, low-pressure air of the atmosphere, they produce white streaks of water ice clouds in the sky called 'condensation trails', or contrails. When summed up over all flights, these contrails are thought to be responsible for two thirds of the climate effects of aviation.

In 2022 Imperial researchers used computer simulations to demonstrate that SAF reduces emissions of soot and particulate matter from aircraft engines, lessening the warming impacts of contrails. Contrails formed when using SAF comprise of fewer, larger ice particles, thereby shortening the lifetime of contrails persisting in the atmosphere, reducing their climate effect. SAF could also improve local air quality around airports.

In 2020, they also demonstrated that making small changes to a flight’s altitude could reduce contrail impacts by 59 per cent.

SAF is currently in short supply, so the researchers say it is important that supplies are used on flights that would benefit most. The Imperial team will gather flight emissions data of current flights to quantify both CO₂ and non-CO₂ impacts. The research will enable them to provide a contrail forecast for the net-zero flight to inform route planning to minimise its non-CO₂ impacts. It will also demonstrate operational efficiency improvements and flight optimisations needed to achieve more net-zero flights.

Dr Roger Teoh, also from Imperial’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said: "While the supply of SAF remains scarce, our research showed that the overall climate benefits from SAF can be further maximised if the supply is targeted to flights that are forecast to form persistent warming contrails. By doing so, SAF would reduce the climate impacts of contrail cirrus, in addition to its CO₂ lifecycle benefits.

“To study the overall impact of alternative fuels, we will quantify these emissions across the fuel’s lifecycle, from production to combustion.” READ MORE