A Virgin Atlantic plane powered by a blend of waste cooking oil, animal fats and other unorthodox fuels landed in New York on Tuesday, after a flight from London Heathrow that the aviation industry hailed as a milestone in its complex and controversial push to decarbonise.
The journey is the first time a commercial airline has operated a long-haul flight entirely powered by so-called sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), which emit less carbon over their lifecycle than traditional jet fuel.
While the plane’s tailpipe still released the same amount of CO₂ as normal jet fuel, net emissions from the flight run on waste products were expected to be about 70 per cent lower than a normal trip over the north Atlantic using fossil fuel from the ground.