SAF, which is mostly derived from used cooking oil, costs three to five times as much as jet fuel. But it is the only realistic way to achieve net zero carbon emissions for planes.
In 1960, as jet planes to Europe were introduced, the cost of the cheapest round-trip ticket from New York to London was $454, which is roughly $5,038 in today's dollars. Technology and demand have kept the price roughly the same, or about one-tenth of the cost of what it was 65 years ago.
It would be tragic if one of the hallmarks of rising middle-class living standards - affordable air travel for more and more people - became sacrificed on the altar of global warming.
