A revolution for aviation?

Next year, the world's first transatlantic flight powered solely by so-called sustainable aviation fuel will depart London's Heathrow airport for JFK airport in New York, the UK government said in a statement released today. Friday.

In 2023, a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 aircraft powered by Rolls-Royce engines will take off powered only by sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), such as waste oil or grease, like cooking oils, describes this release.

“When replacing kerosene, SAFs can reduce carbon emissions by some 70%,” the statement added.

The UK government will invest up to £1 million to support this journey.

"One of the most difficult sectors to decarbonize"

The flight organizers call it “net carbon neutral” because they will also buy carbon credits linked to projects that will absorb equivalent volumes of CO2 in the future.

So-called sustainable aviation fuels in fact emit CO2 during their combustion, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions taking place mainly during the production phase.

“Not only will SAF be instrumental in decarbonizing aviation, but it could create a UK industry with an annual turnover of £2.4 billion by 2040, which could generate 5,200 jobs. in the UK by 2035,” comments the Department for Transport (DfT).

“Aviation is one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonise and without urgent collaborative action it could be one of the most greenhouse gas emitting sectors by 2050,” when the UK s is committed to achieving carbon neutrality, continues the DfT.

“Towards zero carbon aviation”

He recalls that today companies have the right to use a maximum of 50% of SAF in their fuel, mixed with kerosene, on commercial flights.

SAF's 100% flight wants to show the decarbonization potential on long-haul flights and "take us one step closer to zero carbon aviation".

The DfT press release notes that a 100% SAF-powered flight was already carried out by the Royal Air Force (RAF) last month.

Still embryonic, the production of SAF fuels should however triple this year in the world, according to the international sectoral organization IATA to reach at least 300 million liters in 2022, after having already increased strongly from some 25 million liters in 2019, according to the Iata.

A tiny amount compared to the approximately 413 billion liters of aviation fuel consumed that year, according to figures from the International Energy Agency.

Another notable difficulty: SAF fuels cost around four times more than kerosene.

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