First plane using only sustainable fuel flies across Atlantic

A Virgin Atlantic plane powered using only sustainable fuel completed its flight from London to New York on Tuesday, highlighting an eco-friendly and low-carbon option for transatlantic flights.

The Virgin Atlantic flight, which took off from London Heathrow and landed at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport, marked a “year of radical collaboration, to demonstrate the capability” of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), the company said.

Tuesday’s flight was operated by a Virgin Boeing 787 and is the first time a commercial flight has flown exclusively on SAF.

The company hopes the flight can prove that SAF can be a safe replacement for fossil derived jet fuel and is compatible with modern aircraft.

SAF fuel is made from waste products and saves up to 70 percent of carbon dioxide emissions but only makes up 0.1 percent of jet fuel used worldwide, the company’s statement said.

Tuesday’s flight proves “that the challenge of scaling up production is one of policy and investment,” Virgin Atlantic said.

“Collectively, industry and government must go further,” to meet the aviation industry’s target goal of reducing emissions by 2030, the company said.

SAF is already used in jet engines with a blend of regular fuel, but after successful testing, Virgin and its partner companies Rolls-Royce, Boeing and others were granted permission to fly from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Canadian and United Kingdom regulators using 100 percent SAF, Reuters reported.

The fuel used in the flight was mostly made from cooking oil and waste animal fat, Reuters reported.

Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson, who was one of the few members aboard the flight Tuesday, said he is proud of the work and crew that has gone into “the decarbonization of long-haul aviation.”

Branson previously acknowledged the impact of his conglomerate on climate change and said he has taken steps to combat it. In a September interview with NBC News, Branson said climate change is happening and is “a fact of life.”

“The amount of carbon that’s going into Earth’s atmosphere is heating up the world and it’s going to do a lot of damage to the world if we don’t get it under control,” he said.