The Virgin Atlantic flight used only sustainable aviation fuel to cross the Atlantic Ocean from London to New York on Tuesday. It’s a step toward zero-carbon flight.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/4426053

While it’s easy to dismiss this as a stunt, history suggests stunts are necessary to shift mindset. This flight alone solves nothing, but it will hopefully move the needle.

  • @[email protected]
    2•7 months ago

    it suffers from a chicken-and-egg problem: Airlines don’t want to buy SAF because it can be several times more expensive than standard aviation fuel

    Only because we refuse to tax carbon, and increasingly subsidize fossil fuels.

    Clean alternatives will be much more competitive once carbon is properly taxed, and we stop subsidizing polluting industries.

    • HobbitFoot English
      1•7 months ago

      It is worse for jet fuel. The EU doesn’t tax jet fuel at all. The USA does tax jet fuel, but only at 28¢ a gallon.

  • originalucifer
    2•7 months ago

    i was thinkin chris christie on one of them little peddle powered copters… nope… just a plane with big vats of whats probably inside chris christie

  • @[email protected]English
    1•7 months ago

    Virgin Atlantic’s 100% SAF flight is a one-time stunt, and the airline won’t regularly offer all-SAF flights. Standard jet engines aren’t designed to run on only sustainable fuel, and it is too expensive and rare for it to be practical for airlines to run all-SAF routes.

    It was just a publicity stunt. There is currently no practical replacement for jet fuel.