The UK Advertising Standards Authority has banned an ad by Virgin Atlantic for what the watchdog said are misleading claims about sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).
The ad in question referred to “Flight100”, a one-off flight between London-Heathrow (LHR) and New York-JFK, which Virgin Atlantic operated on November 28, 2023, using fuel made entirely from used cooking oil and other biogenic waste products. The ad referred to the company as “the world’s first commercial airline to fly transatlantic on 100% sustainable aviation fuel”.
While it is common in the industry to refer to this type of fuel as “sustainable aviation fuel” (or by its acronym “SAF”), the Advertising Standards Authority considered that the wording of the ad could lead people to believe this type of fuel doesn’t have any impact on the environment, which is not the case.
On May 7, 2024, Virgin Atlantic published an evaluation of the flight’s parameters, which, the airline claims, reduced CO2 emissions by 95 tons of CO2, or 64% compared to the typical conventionally powered flight of a Boeing 787-9 between London-Heathrow to New York JFK.
A number of airlines had been admonished by the UK Advertising Standards Authority because of their alleged misrepresentation of environmental claims, including Lufthansa and Etihad Airways, while KLM faced similar issues in its home country.
This is, however, the first case involving a claim about SAF, which is the technology upon which industry and regulators have pinned hopes to reduce the industry’s environmental footprint.
The watchdog has called on Virgin Atlantic to include additional information in future ads, which will help explain the full impact of SAF on the environment.