Kate's column - May
- 31st May 2024
Earlier this month I attended the Sustainable Skies World Summit at Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre, and I thought it was great to see so many people there to discuss the aviation industry’s progress and challenges to a more sustainable future.
From speakers to exhibits and networking opportunities, there was plenty to get involved in and it gave me plenty of food for thought as we look ahead to the future of the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT).
A highlight of the conference was hearing from Julie Kitcher, Chief Sustainability and Communications Officer at Airbus, because of her level of insight and passion when it comes to sustainable aviation.
As I have written about before, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) was a main topic at the conference and this month it coincided with some follow up information from Virgin Atlantic following their Flight100 journey from London to New York.
The flight was the first transatlantic flight on SAF and saved 64% of the emissions of a standard London Heathrow to New York JFK flight. This flight was successful in both demonstrating the capability of SAF, but also capturing the attention of industry and the public as it cut through to the mainstream news agenda, both of which are hugely positive to see.
Additionally, in previous years Virgin Atlantic have increased efforts to reduce the number of single use plastics on board aircraft; since 2019, this has reduced by 90%, which is a great step forward, and one area we are focussed on for RIAT this year.
Looking ahead to this year’s RIAT, our operational theme of ‘Pushing the Boundaries in Air and Space’ lends itself to aircraft and exhibits that are either sustainable, used for environmental causes or demonstrating what sustainable aviation could look like.
One of the exhibits that we are most looking forward to this year is the British Antarctic Survey’s (BAS) Twin Otter, which in its striking red, will be joining us at RAF Fairford this summer. The Twin Otter, alongside other aircraft in their fleet, is used to capture scientific data in Antarctica to help us better understand our climate.
Some of you may have already seen that on the News section on our website, we have been receiving fascinating insight from the BAS team on what it is like to operate in one of the world’s harshest environments.
Building on this, in the Techno Zone ® this year we will have an exhibit from Hybrid Air Vehicles, whose vision is to be the future of zero-carbon aviation. This will give visitors a glimpse of how the industry is re-thinking what aircraft can look like as we aim to become more sustainable, so be sure to give them a visit!
