The Anonymous Widower

Virgin Atlantic Granted Permit For Historic 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel Flight

The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Virgin Atlantic.

These two paragraphs outline the proposed flight.

Virgin Atlantic’s historic 100% sustainable aviation fuel flight has been granted a permit to fly by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Virgin Atlantic plans to fly across the Atlantic from London Heathrow to New York JFK on 28 November 2023 to test and showcase the feasibility of flying on 100% SAF.

Note.

  1. Strangely, I’ve never flown Virgin, although I did once book then to go to Kenya, but as the flight was cancelled at the last minute, I swapped to Kenya Airways.
  2. Virgin have seventeen Rolls-Royce-powered Boeing 787s.

As Branson is involved, I do wonder, if this is more about PR than anything else.

This paragraph talks about sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

SAF is fuel derived from non-petroleum based renewable sources that is capable of being used as a replacement for, or blended with, kerosene. SAF can currently be used in jet engines to a maximum blend of 50% with traditional kerosene without the need for any modifications. There are several processes to produce SAF, including algae, synthesised fuels from hydrogen waste, or from directly capturing carbon dioxide. When fully replacing kerosene, SAF could reduce lifecycle carbon emissions by over 70% compared to conventional fossil jet fuel.

There is nothing specifically said about the fuel, that Virgin Atlantic will use.

I first mentioned this flight in a post in December 2022, which is entitled World’s First Net Zero Transatlantic Flight To Fly From London in 2023, Powered By The Rolls-Royce Trent 1000.

The press release from Rolls-Royce, said that the flight would be this year. So, that appears to be happening.

In fact, it does appear that Rolls-Royce are being thorough with their testing of sustainable aviation fuel, as these posts include both Rolls-Royce and sustainable aviation fuel.

Several are based on Rolls-Royce press releases.

November 6, 2023 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

World’s First Net Zero Transatlantic Flight To Fly From London in 2023, Powered By The Rolls-Royce Trent 1000

The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Rolls-Royce.

These are the three main bullet points.

  • World first as Virgin Atlantic wins UK government funding to operate historic London – New York flight
  • Rolls-Royce, Boeing, Imperial College London, University of Sheffield, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and ICF also form part of an iconic British-led consortium 
  • Heralds future of low carbon aviation, with the wider sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry potentially creating thousands of UK jobs while supporting delivery of net zero aviation emissions by 2050 

Note.

  1. The flight will take place next year.
  2. The aircraft will be one of Virgin Atlantic’s flagship Boeing 787s, which are powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines.
  3. When fully replacing kerosene, SAF can slash lifecycle carbon emissions by more than 70% compared to conventional fossil jet fuel.
  4. This flight is expected to be fuelled by SAF made primarily from waste oils and fats, such as used cooking oil.
  5. SAF could create a UK industry with an annual turnover of £2.4bn by 2040, and which supports up to 5,200 UK jobs by 2035.

The flight could be made net zero, if it used 100 % SAF and offset any carbon dioxide produced.

What Is Sustainable Aviation Fuel?

It is also known as Aviation biofuel, which has a comprehensive Wikipedia entry, which has this first paragraph.

An aviation biofuel or bio-jet fuel or bio-aviation fuel (BAF) is a biofuel used to power aircraft and is said to be a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The International Air Transport Association (IATA) considers it a key element to reducing the carbon footprint within the environmental impact of aviation. Aviation biofuel could help decarbonize medium- and long-haul air travel generating most emissions, and could extend the life of older aircraft types by lowering their carbon footprint.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) can be made in a variety of ways, which are described in the Wikipedia entry.

Could A Plane Run On Kerosene One Flight And SAF The Next?

I suspect that the practicalities of airline operation and schedules and the production and distribution of aviation fuel, will mean that if an airliner can run on both kerosene and SAF would be a great advantage.

This is a paragraph from the press release.

It comes hot off the heels of the world’s first sustainable fuel military transporter flight using 100% SAF, completed by the RAF last month using the iconic Voyager aircraft.

Note.

  1. The Voyager is an RAF military transport/tanker aircraft based on the Airbus 330 and fitted with Rolls-Royce Trent 772B-B-60 engines.
  2. Rolls-Royce Trent engines power both the Dreamliner and the Voyager.
  3. I’m sure that for operational reasons, the RAF would mandate a dual fuel capability.

This press release on the RAF web site, which is entitled Royal Air Force Completes World-First Sustainable Fuel Military Transporter Flight, gives more details of the RAF flight.

December 21, 2022 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Is Virgin Atlantic Closing Little Red?

The Sunday Times is leading the Business section, with an article that is saying that Virgin Atlantic is closing Little Red.

I always thought it was an ambitious plan, especially as the airline doesn’t go to Glasgow. This might seem a mistake, but remember Virgin Trains go to Scotland’s biggest city, where probably most London-bound travellers live.

Incidentally, I have only heard of one person, who has used the airline to get to Scotland and they live near Heathrow.

But after my experience with flying easyJet to Edinburgh, where it took as long as the train, due to security delays, I just wonder if flying to Scotland now, is a second class option to many travellers. As an example, one of my Edinburgh friends, who frequently travels down to London, always seems to use the train.

So you have to have a good reason to fly, such as your company is paying and you get the reward points.

Security delays are obviously a problem at some airports and these could get worse, unless terrorism worries actually reduce our desire for air travel substantially.

But two other factors probably have more effect; Manchester Airport and the trains.

Traffic at Manchester Airport has risen by nearly twenty percent in the last few years and this has been substantially helped by better rail connectivity across the North and to Glasgow.

So why would a Glaswegian spend more money to fly to Heathrow, when he or she can do the total journey quicker, by taking a convenient brand-new First TransPennine train to Manchester Airport and getting his flight from there?

But the trains are so much better at journeys a couple of stops short of a full London to Scotland journey. And how many Scots who live in the Central belt want to go to places other than London like Birmingham, Peterborough or Milton Keynes?

The trains are getting better each year and there seems to be no sign of the pace of the improvement slowing. Station upgrades at Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Peterborough and Birmingham will be completed and extra paths for more trains will be available, as alternative routes for freight trains become available. The real game-changer will happen at the end of this decade, when in-cab signalling becomes available, allowing the trains to increase maximum speeds from 125 mph to 140 mph.

Presently the fastest London Glasgow trains take four and a half hours, but the improvements could deliver a time around four hours.

As Virgin obviously have all the figures for both train and plane to Scotland, if they are closing Little Red, I suspect it was somewhat of a no-brainer.

 

September 7, 2014 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , | Leave a comment

Virgin To Fly Between London And Manchester

These short haul flights between Manchester and London are just what we don’t need, as proportionately, they generate more carbon emissions per passenger than long haul flights.

Would Virgin be running them, if they still had the franchise to run trains on the West Coast Main line?

As someone, who’s travelled on this line north of Manchester and seen the overcrowding, it could be argued, that perhaps Virgin should be running flights between Glasgow and Manchester. Hopefully this problem will get easier, when the extra and bigger Pendelinos are running at the end of this year.

But really short haul flights in this country are not needed, if we make sure the train service is good. Except of course when you need to get to an island, like Jersey or the Isle of Man, or across the Irish Sea. Having experienced the train line to Inverness, you might argue that the North of Scotland might need flights, but new trains up the East Coast and better connections in Edinburgh and Glasgow, might even force the airlines off those routes.

August 21, 2012 Posted by | News, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , | 4 Comments