Virgin Atlantic recently shook aerospace headlines with its Flight100. A flight fueled by a tank full of 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
The goal of the flight was to show that SAF is a viable option to replace jet fuel, and after more than a year of collaboration across the industry… they have succeeded!
On November 28th, 2023, the now-famous flight flew across the Atlantic from London Heathrow airport to New York’s JFK, becoming the first transatlantic commercial flight with 100% SAF. The SAF in question was a blend of 88% Hydrogen-processed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) and 12% Synthetic Aromatic Kerosene (SAK), which proved to be compatible with existing engines, and is expected to emit ~70% less greenhouse gas than fossil fuel. 1
Among Virgin’s many collaborators were Sheffield University and Imperial College London, responsible for the contrail research. They theorized that any contrails formed would be short-lived, as SAF has less particulate matter, limiting the opportunity for persistent contrails to form.
Dr. Roger Teoh from Imperial College explained that their “research suggests that a fleet-wide adoption of 100% SAF, similar to the fuel used by Flight100, could reduce overall contrail warming effects by 45%. For these reasons, the use of SAF can reduce the climate impact of both CO2 and non-CO2 pollutants.” 2
The post-flight analysis included “on-board flight data, weather data and satellite imagery to estimate the amount of particulate matter released and track any contrails formed by the flight.” 2 This analysis, along with Breakthrough Energy’s contrail forecasting model and RMI’s in-flight observation and reporting, make for a dream-team of contrail mitigation research.
While this is excellent news for the aviation sector, there is still much work to be done to normalize SAF use across the industry. Richard Branson, co-founder of the Virgin Group, was on the flight and expressed his pride in the accomplishment, but recognizes the challenges ahead and said:
“[T]here’s still a long way to go, there simply isn’t enough sustainable aviation fuel – the next step is to see policy change in the UK and US and investment to change that.” 3
Innovative projects like this are exactly what the aviation industry needs to refine contrail avoidance technology, test flight forecasting capabilities, and prove that SAF is the best replacement for jet fuel. This flight also demonstrates to policy makers just how effective these fuels are and should inspire making the needed changes to replace jet fuel.
Hats off to Virgin Atlantic and all of their partners. We excitedly await the results from the contrail research of this flight and will share our findings.
[1] Flight100 Fact Sheet – https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/11/28/virgin-flight-100-fact-sheet.pdf
[2] Imperial College Report – https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/249753/worlds-first-transatlantic-flight-100-sustainable/
[3] Richard Branson’s Blog – https://www.virgin.com/branson-family/richard-branson-blog/flying-onboard-virgin-atlantics-flight100