Yesterday, United Airlines and Neste announced the largest airline order for the Finnish fuel provider’s advanced biofuel to date. The agreement covered the purchase of up to 52.5 million gallons of SAF over the next three years, to be delivered to the airline’s planes departing from Amsterdam Schiphol and potentially ‘other airports’.
More and more commercial carriers and the companies that travel with them are turning to sustainable aviation fuel to reduce their CO2 emissions and meet climate impact targets. Meanwhile, it is not exactly a level playing field.
As if the extra expense wasn’t enough to put some hard-struggling airlines off the investment it requires, SAF is not available everywhere in the world. Moreover, some airports have been faster than others in organizing supply of the thus far rare commodity.
This means that airlines operating out of these airports will benefit from greater access to SAF and potentially more rapidly diminishing costs. Let’s take a look at which airports have taken a leading role in the ‘quantum climate leap’ of sustainable aviation fuels that IATA predicts will constitute a 65% reduction in emissions needed to hit net-zero by 2050.
Neste’s new deal with United was the first international agreement a US airline has signed for the uptake of SAF. Photo: United Airlines
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
We have already mentioned Amsterdam Schiphol in this article. Neste began supplying SAF to the airport in December 2020, when the company acquired a minority stake in Aircraft Fuel Supply (AFS), the owner and operator of the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol fuel storage company. While Neste’s current production sits at 100,000 tonnes, the company has ambitious plans to scale up output in Rotterdam and Singapore to 1.5 million tonnes by 2023.
Schiphol has also invested in the construction of Europe’s first sustainable kerosene plant, being built by Dutch company SkyNRG. The facility is due to come online during 2022 and produce 100,000 tonnes of SAF per year. The plant will run on sustainable hydrogen, which is produced using water and wind energy. The SAF produced will result in a reduction of CO2 emissions of 85% across its lifespan compared to conventional jet fuel.
Amsterdam Schiphol has invested in a synthetic kerosene plant located not far from the airport. Photo: Getty Images
As the leading airline at Schiphol, KLM allows customers who have joined KLM’s Corporate and Cargo SAF program to purchase an amount of drop-in fuel. Supplementary to this, KLM is also adding 0.5% SAF to all flights departing AMS.
This is funded with a surcharge to passenger airline tickets, ranging between € 1 and € 12 depending on journey distance and travel class. KLM has signed purchase agreements with various SAF providers. It was also the first airline in the world to invest in sustainable kerosene on a larger scale.
All Norwegian airports also have a blending mandate of 0.5% SAF. In 2020, the SAF percentage at Swedavia-run airports, including Stockholm Arlanda, stood at 0.15%. According to Eurocontrol, if SAF was to constitute 10% of all aviation fuel used in Europe by 2030, that would slash 8% of CO2 emissions.
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British Airways has begun taking domestically produced SAF at Heathrow. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
London Heathrow
Meanwhile, the world’s largest major airport SAF provider is located right across the channel. London Heathrow Airport (LHR) has embarked on an incentives program for both airlines and passengers, resulting in SAF constituting 0.5% of all fuel being tanked at the airport. The UK government has pledged to invest £ 180 million (approximately $ 228.4 million) to develop SAF plants in the country, and Heathrow says it will continue to seek a mandate for 10% SAF by 2030.
Heathrow has also worked with Neste, as well as fuel supplier Vitol Aviation to become the first UK airport to incorporate sustainable aviation fuel distribution in 2021. The first delivery constituted only the equivalent of powering between five and ten short-haul flights, so things have progressed relatively quickly once Heathrow got a move on.
In March this year, British Airways took delivery of the first SAF produced in the UK. According to a multi-year contract signed with Philips 66, the airline has agreed to purchase SAF that would power the equivalent of 700 net-zero CO2 emissions flights between London and New York operated by Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
oneworld alliance members have signed a seven-year uptake agreement for SAF out of SFO. Photo: Getty Images
San Francsico International
Across a different, much broader pond, San Francisco International Airport (SFO) has taken a leading role in bringing SAF to both domestic and international airlines. Furthermore, the airport was part of a coalition that lobbied the California Air Resources Board to expand the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) to offer the opt-in inclusion of SAF. As a result, the LCFS offers a ~ $ 1.25 incentive for SAF over conventional fuel. In November 2021, the airport received an award from Airports Going Green (AGG), for its efforts to introduce and advance the use of sustainable aviation fuel.
By 2021, SFO had received about five million blended gallons with deliveries enabled by agreements from Lufthansa, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, American Airlines, Amazon, DHL, and Delta Air Lines committing to greater SAF use from Neste and World Energy. In December last year, the oneworld alliance member airlines signed an agreement with renewable fuels company Aemetis to purchase more than 350 million gallons to use for operations at SFO.
The fuel will be delivered over a period of seven years, beginning in 2024. Airport Director Ivar C. Satero commented on the announcement of the deal,
“As an industry leader in the advancement of sustainable aviation fuel, we know that decarbonizing air transportation requires full engagement from our airline partners, and we are proud that this latest announcement firmly establishes SFO as the center of this revolution.”
JetBlue will be using SAF out of its three New York-area airports. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
Other agreements and efforts of note
Things are progressing relatively quickly in the US. Early mover United Airlines has used over five million gallons produced by World Energy and delivered to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). JetBlue has signed a ten-year uptake agreement with Philadelphia-based SG Preston to provide at least 670 million gallons of blended SAF to its three New York area airports – JFK, La Guardia, and Newark.
The SAF market is predicted to grow from $ 219 million in 2021 to $ 15,7 billion by 2030. Several smaller airports, such as Cologne Bonn and John Wayne Orange County airports, have made substantial commitments to make sustainable fuels available. Air France’s flights out of France run on an overall 1% SAF. Meanwhile, the Port of Seattle has become the first US airport operator to develop a roadmap for transitioning all airlines operating out of Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) to fly on 10% SAF by 2028.
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