An airplane belonging to British billionaire Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic company, 73, performed the feat of crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a commercial flight powered by cooking oil, animal fats, sugar and other types of products considered sustainable (biofuels).

The aircraft took off on November 28 from London Heathrow Airport in England for John F. Kennedy Airport in New York in the United States.

The biofuel used on this flight was made from waste fats and vegetable sugars and emitted 70% less carbon than petroleum-based aviation fuels, according to a company statement quoted by the international press.

This is the first time that a commercial airline has made a long-haul flight powered by 100% sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).

The expectation of the aviation market is to mass-produce and use biofuels in aircraft. However, SAF currently accounts for around 0.1% of airline fuel consumption.

Despite its "daring" success, Virgin Atlantic will not be offering regular flights powered by SAF, not least because the aircraft's engines were not designed to run solely on this type of fuel. In addition, it is too expensive and rare for it to be practical for airlines to run routes exclusively on environmentally friendly fuel.