Virgin Atlantic’s Groundbreaking Sustainable Fuel Powered Transatlantic Flight Sparks Controversy

2023-11-28 19:24:06

The British airline Virgin Atlantic is operating a transatlantic flight on Tuesday powered entirely by so-called sustainable fuels, a first. Environmental organizations, however, describe the operation as “greenwashing”.

The plane took off from London’s Heathrow Airport around 12:50 p.m. (Swiss time) and is due to arrive at JFK in New York at 8:30 p.m.

It is the first “operating 100% on so-called sustainable fuels on both engines, by a commercial airline, on a long-haul route”, specifies Virgin in a press release.

The company specifies, however, that this is not a commercial flight, therefore without a passenger having paid a ticket or any loading of freight.

“Today’s historic flight (…) shows how we can both decarbonize transport and enable passengers to continue to fly when and where they want,” welcomed British Transport Minister Mark Harper, also cited in the press release.

Very expensive production

Produced from used oils, wood residues or algae, sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) can be used in addition to kerosene (up to 50%) in current aircraft. They are considered the main lever for decarbonization of the sector for the decades to come, but their production remains in its infancy and very expensive.

Additionally, they are used in combustion engines that continue to generate CO2, with decarbonization occurring further upstream, in the act of reusing plant materials instead of extracting hydrocarbons.

The flight takes place on a Boeing 787 equipped with Rolls-Royce engines running only on this fuel.

“Technological dead end”

The environmental association Stay Grounded, however, described the operation as “greenwashing” in a press release.

“It is no coincidence that this flight takes place two days before the start of COP28 in Dubai,” says Stay Grounded. “While the world’s attention is focused on one flight, there are 100,000 every day using fossil fuels. Substitutes are just a drop in the ocean of hydrocarbons.”

Finlay Asher, an aerospace engineer who worked for Rolls Royce, quoted by Stay Grounded, explains that CDA technology, called in English SAF, is a “technological dead end” because it cannot be developed on a sufficient scale to make a difference.

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