Virgin Atlantic launches corporate sustainable aviation fuel program business travel.
UK long-haul airline Virgin Atlantic is the latest carrier to launch a corporate SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) programme, which allows customers to contribute to the cost of fuel.
Virgin Atlantic said the SAF program would be available to corporate customers of “any size or location”, and would complement similar plans already operated by joint venture partners Delta and Air France-KLM.
The airline said the move would allow business travel customers to “better understand their emissions” from flights through a “robust CO2 methodology” that can be used in corporate carbon reports.
Delta, Air France and KLM have already secured funding for SAF from corporate clients in Europe and the US. Virgin’s participation in the comprehensive plan will enable it to offer SAF to customers in the UK from its hub at Heathrow.
Tom Maynard, head of UK and Europe sales at Virgin Atlantic, said the joint venture was the first to offer a corporate sustainable aviation fuels programme.
Maynard said:
We know we are not the only industry with ambitious goals and so our plan has been designed with our corporate clients in mind.
“Our goal is to help them meet their sustainability goals by enabling them to more easily understand their emissions and support future SAF contributions.”
In February 2022, Virgin Atlantic announced the first supply of SAF to the UK, with the arrival of 2.5 million liters of sustainable fuel from supplier Neste Oyi at London Heathrow. The airline has set a target of using 10 percent SAF to power its flights by 2030.
Maynard said, “SAF represents the biggest opportunity for Virgin Atlantic to decarbonize in the short to medium term, but we still need cross industry and government action to support the commercialization of SAF on a large scale, Maynard said.
“Our FUEL program will help us as we continue to work closely with our sustainability partners as well as our joint venture partners to find innovative solutions to achieve this goal.”
Virgin Atlantic Launches Corporate SAF Program business travel news europe, October 4, 2022
