The first commercial airliner to cross the Atlantic on a purely high-fat, low-emissions fuel flew Tuesday from London to New York in a step toward achieving what supporters called “jet zero”.
The Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 flight was powered without using fossil fuels, relying on so-called sustainable aviation (航空) fuel made up largely of tallow (动物油脂) and other waste fats and plant sugars. “The world will always assume something can’t be done, until you do it.” said Virgin founder Richard Branson, who was aboard the flight with government officials, engineers and journalists.
The UK Transport Department, which provided 1 million pounds to plan and operate the flight, called the test a “huge step towards j et zero” to make air travel more environmentally friendly, though large challenges remain in making the fuel widely available.
Sustainable aviation fuel, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions by about 70%, is the best near-term way for the international aviation industry to achieve its net zero target by 2050, the US Energy Department said.
Holly Boyd-Boland, president of corporate development at Virgin Atlantic, said the flight shows the fuel can power existing aircraft but said the challenge is enlarging production to get to enough volume so that they are using more sustainable aviation fuel every day.
While this is the first jetliner to make the trans-Atlantic journey using only the sustainable fuel, it is not a commercial flight and not the first jet to do so. Gulfstream Aerospace was the first to make the crossing earlier this month with a business jet powered only by the eco-fuel. Air France-KLM flew from Paris to Montreal two years ago using a mix of petroleum-based jet fuel and a synthetic (合成物) made from waste cooking oils.
“This flight somehow gets us closer to guilt-free flying. Sustainable aviation fuel represents around 0.1% of aviation fuel globally and will be very hard to expand sustainably, but the flight is a valuable try,” said policy director Cait Hewitt.
【小题1】What can we infer from paragraph 2?| A．The Boeing 787 has a special structure. |
| B．Greener fuel has become a reality in a way. |
| C．Airlines should put waste fats to good use. |
| D．Fossil fuels will be replaced in the near future. |
| A．It runs into technical difficulties. |
| B．It is unsuitable for commercial flights. |
| C．It is unable to gain the public recognition. |
| D．It fails to power existing planes constantly. |
| A．They follow in Virgin Atlantic’s footsteps. |
| B．They take advantage of waste cooking oils. |
| C．They develop sustainable fuel products actively. |
| D．They are attempting to create eco-friendly aviation. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Indifferent. | D．Concerned. |
