IATA announced that its latest policy paper on SAF is now available, calling for stronger incentives to increase SAF deployment across the industry. Government policy has an instrumental role to play in the deployment of SAF and IATA encourages policies which are harmonized across countries and industries, while being technology and feedstock agnostic. Incentives should be used to accelerate SAF deployment. As SAF is in the early stages of market development, mandates should only be used if they are part of a broader strategy to increase the production of SAF and complemented with incentive programs that facilitate innovation, scale-up and unit cost reduction.
In the EU, under the European Green Deal a new law was agreed to cut aviation emissions by promoting SAF. The agreement marks an important and timely step necessary to the realization of the ambitious targets of the decarbonization roadmap to which the sector has committed. Some of the key elements of the agreement include:
• Setting of mandates for minimum SAF uplift at EU airports of 2% by 2025, 6% by 2030 and 20% by 2035, up to a maximum of 70% by 2050. Of these amounts, 1.2% in 2030, and 5% in 2035 must be power to liquid (PtL) or E-Fuels, increasing to 35% by 2050.
• A requirement for the Commission to report by 2024 on the feasibility of a Book and Claim (B&C) system for airlines to manage the supply of SAF in a flexible way across the EU.
• A call for States to adhere to a single EU SAF mandate and avoid a patchwork of national SAF mandates.
Elsewhere in Europe, Norwegian partnered with Norsk e-Fuel to build a full-scale sustainable fuel plant in Mosjoen. Under the agreement, the carrier aims for long-term offtake of the fuel and an equity stake in the company. Norwegian plans to secure 20% of its SAF demand to 2030 through the partnership. Wizz Air has signed a MoU with Spanish energy company Cepsa for the supply of sustainable aviation fuel from 2025, giving Wizz Air the opportunity to purchase SAF from Cepsa for the supply across the airline’s route network in Spain from 2025. Ryanair have announced a partnership with Neste Holland to power approximatively a third of its flights at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) with a 40% SAF blend. Repsol and Ryanair have signed a strategic agreement to promote the use of renewable fuels in Spain and Portugal.
In Canada, Airbus Canada, Pratt & Whitney Canada, and SAF+ Consortium announced a new initiative to collaborate on next-generation SAF, supported by the Government of Quebec. Key areas of collaboration include SAF research and testing, including flight testing blends of up to 100% SAF on an Airbus A220 aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney GTF engines. The project will also comprise feasibility studies for establishing local production facilities for power-to-liquid e-SAF in Quebec. Neste and Air Canada are expanding their collaboration with an additional supply of 2.5 million gallons (9.5 million liters or 7,500 tons) of SAF, used to power the airline’s flights from the San Francisco International Airport. Still in Canada, Raven SR and Cap Clean Energy have announced a collaboration on Canadian SAF and renewable diesel projects.
In the US, Delta will purchase up to 10 million gallons of SAF from Shell Aviation over a two-year period for use at its hub at Los Angeles International Airport. United Airlines has announced a $15 million investment in Svante, a Canadian company specializing in carbon capture and removal technology. Svante provides materials and technology as part of the value chain that has the potential to convert CO2 removed from the atmosphere and from industrial emission sources into SAF. In the Pacific Northwest, Washington State University and Snohomish County have teamed up to develop a proposed research and development center for sustainable aviation fuels. The $6.5 million SAF Applied Research and Development Center will offer fuel testing, fuel finishing as well as a fuel repository. For the first time, companies including Bank of America, Boom Supersonic, Boston Consulting Group, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Meta and clean energy nonprofit RMI are joining together through the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA) to purchase SAF certificates at scale for nearly 850,000 gallons of high-integrity SAF produced by World Energy and helping fuel JetBlue flights, reducing an estimated 8,500 tons of CO2 on a lifecycle basis. This practice will strengthen the demand signal aviation customers are sending to the SAF market.
In Mexico, low-cost airline Viva Aerobus has agreed to purchase 1m liters of SAF from Neste. The fuel will be used on Viva Aerobus flights from Los Angeles to Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey.
In Asia, Cathay Pacific announced a collaboration with State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) to develop SAF supply chain in China through four new SAF plants using a pathway similar to power-to-liquids. The plants are expected to be commissioned between 2024 and 2026, and each will have the capacity to produce 50,000 to 100,000 tons of SAF annually. In Japan, All Nippon Airways (ANA), has for the first time agreed to use SAF that was blended in Japan under a public-private initiative led by the Civil Aviation Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). ANA will procure the blended SAF from ITOCHU Corporation and will use the fuel on ANA’s international and domestic flights from Haneda and Narita airport. Earlier this year, Honeywell and Oriental Energy Company Ltd. jointly announced that a SAF production facility with an annual output capacity of 1 million tons will be built in Maoming, Guangdong Province in China.
Single Use Plastics
Aéroports de Montreal’ has announced a new policy to phase out certain single-use plastics, such as utensils, food containers, cups and bags. These plastics will no longer be available in concession areas and VIP lounges at Montréal-Trudeau International Airport.
Air India announced having minimized single-use plastic usage by approximately 80% on board all flights across its worldwide network. The reduction has been achieved in an ongoing effort led by a team of in-house experts and supported by catering partners and multiple vendors, with the aim of continually minimizing the carrier’s environmental impact.
Electric planes
Sweden’s Northvolt revealed a development program for aviation battery systems. Northvolt’s subsidiary Cuberg unveiled a new program dedicated to developing high-performance battery systems that will enable safe, sustainable electric flight. Cuberg will spearhead the program through the design and build of system solutions for the aviation industry based on its innovative lithium metal battery technology.
Airports
Air India has signed an agreement with KSU Aviation to launch TaxiBot operations at Delhi and Bengaluru airports for its Airbus A320 Family of aircraft. The strategic partnership is aligned with Air India’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint, as the adoption of TaxiBots envisages a potential saving of ~15,000 tons in fuel consumption over three years.
SAF and decarbonization of the aviation industry
IATA spoke with Oliver Fernández GarcÃa, International Aviation Director at Repsol, to discuss SAF and decarbonization of the aviation industry
How is Repsol helping airlines tackle the climate challenge? Who are your clients?
