Business leaders from across the aviation sector have written to Boris Johnson to urge him to make sure decarbonising the sector is “at the heart of a green economic recovery“.

Members of the UK’s Sustainable Aviation coalition penned the letter to the Prime Minister to reaffirm the industry’s commitment to achieving net zero by 2050 and emphasise their desire for a strengthened partnership with government to make clean flying a reality.

The aviation industry has been among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic but stakeholders from across the sector stress with support, they can enable the UK to become a global leader in clean, sustainable plane technologies.

The letter calls for the Prime Minister to help enable up to 14 UK plants generate sustainable jet fuel from household and industrial waste by the middle 2030s – it says this will require targeted loan guarantees and the provision of capital grants to deliver first-of-a-kind fuel plants.

The aviation bosses suggest a sustainable aviation fuels industry based around seven clusters at Teesside, Humberside, the North West of England, South Wales, Southampton, St Fergus and Grangemouth could boost the economy by £3 billion and create 20,200 jobs by the middle 2030s.

They claim UK production of such a fuel could help save as much as 3.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually and urge the Prime Minister to also support the development of “ground-breaking electric, hybrid and hydrogen powered aircraft”.