The government’s Jet Zero Council met last week to discuss progress on zero-emission flying. The body was set up in 2020 with the aim of making aviation carbon neutral by 2050.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps said: “Very shortly I’ll be saying more about the first objective of the Jet Zero Council, which is to experiment with the principle of being able to fly a transatlantic passenger aircraft at net zero.”

It is likely the flight will achieve net-zero emissions with a combination of sustainable fuels and offsetting. 

Shapps said it was technically already possible to fly transatlantic using only Sustainable Aviation Fuel but added: “You’ll probably pay 10 times as much for the fuel once production costs are taken into account.”

Shapps explained the fifth meeting of the Council last week had focused on hydrogen fuel, with a presentation from Airbus.