The CEOs of Virgin Atlantic and British Airways have said that ‘radical collaboration’ is required between Government, aviation fuel providers and the wider industry in order to reach net zero by 2050.
The statement was made at the Sustainable Skies World Summit 2024, held at Farnborough, UK.
Sitting on a panel with Julie Kitcher, chief sustainability officer at Airbus, and Brain Moran, chief sustainability officer at Boeing, Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss and British Airways CEO Sean Doyle discussed the positive steps made between the organisations and the increased investment in sustainable technology to reduce carbon emissions.
While progress is being made and the UK Government’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), mandate is welcome, the panel agreed that it is not just the OEMs’ and airlines’ responsibility to drive change, and that more needs to be done by the government and the wider sustainable aviation fuel infrastructure to achieve the targets set.
Speaking of the panel discussion, Virgin’s Shai Weiss said: “It’s not often that you see two sets of competitors going toe to toe on stage, but today was unusual.
“We agreed that radical collaboration is required for our industry to reach Net Zero by 2050, with a focus on the near-term, including fleet modernisation, wide adoption of SAF, as well as longer term technological innovation, including hydrogen and electrification.
“Virgin Atlantic published much-anticipated findings from Flight100 as an open resource to show the industry that SAF is a safe, 100% drop-in replacement for fossil fuels. Decarbonisation is a big issue for all of us and we need to get it right, so there is not a choice for consumers between flying and being green; and the approximately 60% of the world who have not yet flown. Our position at Virgin Atlantic is clear – if enough SAF is made, we will fly it.”
