Passenger Jet Crosses Atlantic on Sustainable Fuel

newsforkids.net/articles/2023/11/30/passenger-jet-crosses-atlantic-on-sustainable-fuel

NFK Editors - November 30, 2023

On Tuesday, Virgin Atlantic flew a large passenger jet from London to New York using 100%
“Sustainable Aviation Fuel” (SAF). The flight was meant to show that it’s possible to fly using
cleaner fuels, but experts disagree about the effects of SAF on the climate.

Airplane travel creates nearly 3% of the world’s greenhouse gases. That makes cutting
pollution from flying an important part of the fight against the climate crisis. Airlines and plane
makers are working hard to figure out ways to make their flights pollute less.

Tuesday’s flight was supposed to draw attention to these efforts. The Boeing 787 can carry
hundreds of passengers. But for the test flight, the plane only held people from the
companies involved, and some reporters. Still, the plane crossed the Atlantic Ocean with its
engines powered by 100% sustainable fuel.

Air travel creates 2-3% of the world’s greenhouse gases. It’s

important to cut this pollution. On Tuesday, Virgin Atlantic flew a
large passenger jet from London to New York using 100%
Sustainable Aviation Fuel. Above, crew members and Virgin Atlantic
leaders after the flight.
(Source: Virgin Atlantic.)

That’s a big deal. Normally, airplanes can use up to 50% SAF, and this is mixed with the
kerosene that the planes usually use for fuel. Virgin Atlantic had to get special permission to
use 100% SAF.
The fuel used on the flight was mainly made from used cooking oils and animal fats. A small
part of the fuel was made from corn waste. Virgin Atlantic says that using SAF cut the flight’s
pollution by 70%. SAF still pollutes when it’s burned, just like regular jet fuel. The difference
is in how the fuels are made.

SAF is made from plants (and related animal products) that once absorbed carbon dioxide
(CO2) from the air. When SAF burns, it just releases this same CO2 again. That’s different
from jet fuel, which is made from oil pumped from underground, releasing CO2 that was
deeply buried.

Virgin Atlantic says that using SAF cut the flight’s pollution by 70%.
SAF still pollutes when it’s burned, just like regular jet fuel. But
regular jet fuel releases new carbon that used to be buried
underground. Above, an SAF refueling truck.
(Source: Virgin Atlantic.)

SAF may sound great, but it still has many problems. For one thing, SAF costs as much as
five times as much as regular jet fuel. That helps explain why only one-tenth of 1% of the fuel
airlines currently use is SAF. (That’s just one gallon – or liter – out of every thousand.)

Virgin Atlantic is hoping that its flight will encourage more companies to produce SAF and
that this will bring the price down.

But even if the price of SAF drops, critics say there are still big problems with it. They say it’s
easy to make small amounts of SAF out of plant waste. But to make as much SAF as the
airlines really need would require farmers to grow plants for fuel instead of for eating. This
could also lead to more forests being cut down for farmland.
 SAF has many problems. For one, it can cost five times as much as
regular jet fuel. Virgin Atlantic is hoping that its flight will encourage
more companies to produce SAF and help bring the price down. But
creating enough SAF without also creating other environmental
problems will be hard.
(Source: Virgin Atlantic.)

Airlines like SAF because it can be used now in existing planes with no changes. They hope
it will help quickly reduce airplane pollution until non-polluting fuels are developed.

Governments seem to agree that SAF is a step in the right direction. Both the United States
and the European Union have set targets that will sharply increase the use of SAF in coming
years. But airline companies have a long way to go to reach their goal of becoming carbon
neutral by 2050.

Did You Know…?

Virgin Atlantic wasn’t the only company to use SAF to fly across the Atlantic recently. On
November 19, Gulfstream, a company that makes airplanes, used SAF to power the engines
of its small business jet, the Gulfstream G600, as it flew from the US to England.