Virgin Atlantic: first transatlantic flight using green fuel

British airline Virgin Atlantic is operating a transatlantic flight on Tuesday powered entirely by so-called green fuel. This is the first operation, but environmental groups describe it as a greenwashing operation.

The flight will depart London Heathrow Airport at 12:30 Paris time and arrive at Kennedy Airport in New York (USA) at 20:30 Paris time. It will be the first commercial airline to “run on 100% green fuel in both engines on a long-haul route,” Virgin said. However, the company adds that neither passengers nor cargo will be transported.

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), produced from waste oils, wood waste or algae, can be used to supplement kerosene (up to 50%) in modern aircraft. They are considered the main lever for decarbonization of the sector in the coming decades. But their production is still in its infancy and very expensive. They are also used in internal combustion engines that continue to generate CO2, with decarbonization occurring further downstream by recycling plant materials instead of extracting hydrocarbons.

“A drop of water in the ocean of hydrocarbons”

In December 2022, the British government announced funding of “up to £1 million” (about €1.150 million) for the project, carried out by the airline in collaboration with the University of Sheffield, US aircraft manufacturer Boeing, and engine manufacturer British Rolls-Royce. or hydrocarbon giant BP. The flight takes place on a Boeing 787 aircraft equipped with Rolls-Royce engines running only on this fuel.

The environmental association Stay Grounded (in French) believes that “this flight is not a coincidence two days before the start of COP28 in Dubai”, regarding the climate conference taking place in the United Arab Emirates. . “While the world’s attention is focused on one flight, 100,000 aircraft use fossil fuels every day. Substitutes are just a drop in the ocean of hydrocarbons.”

Finlay Usher, an aerospace engineer who worked for Rolls Royce and quoted by Stay Grounded, explains that CDA technology, called SAF in English, is a “technological dead end” because it cannot be developed at a sufficient scale to make a difference. “Two potential sources of truly clean aviation fuel are severely limited in scale. The waste used as feedstock for bio-kerosene on this flight is not available in large enough quantities to have a significant impact on aviation emissions,” explains Dr Doug Parr, a scientist at Greenpeace UK.

“In addition, CO2 from direct air capture and green hydrogen produced by electrolysis (both used to produce e-kerosene) are very expensive to produce (…) The only effective way to combat aviation emissions in the short term is to meet demand, and any supply of The opposite is simply utopian,” adds Doug Parr.