Skift Take
Sometimes you need a big, audacious stunt to garner support for sought-after climate policy.
Virgin Atlantic Airways completed a transatlantic flight Tuesday using all sustainable aviation fuel — and whatever you do, do not call it a stunt.
"It's actually not a stunt at all," Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss said during an interview in New York Tuesday. "You don't usually get Boeing, Rolls Royce, the Rocky Mountain Institute, Sheffield University, Imperial College, [and] ICF, to participate in a stunt, which is going to cost them a lot of money."
"I think this was an important day to show that 100% sustainable aviation fuel, can power flight — a commercial flight [on] a large plane across the Atlantic safely," he continued.
The all-SAF flight, a Boeing 787-9 from London Heathrow to New York's JFK, used fuel supplied by AirBP and Virent. It is made from a blend of used cooking oil and plant sugars, and produces a fraction of the carbon emissions of traditional jet fuel.
SAF is viewed by the aviation industry as something akin to the holy grail of its decarbonization efforts. Industry trade group IATA estimates that the fuels will contribute 65% of airli