Saturday, December 16, 2023
On 6 December, IATA held its annual Global Media Day where updates on many topics relating to the industry were shared.
The industry outlook for 2024 was released, and the sustainability updates focused on SAF and on noise management.
On Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), IATA announced estimates for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production. In 2023, SAF volumes reached over 600 million liters (0.5Mt), double the 300 million liters (0.25 Mt) produced in 2022.
This corresponds to 0.2% of global jet fuel use by the industry. SAF accounted for 3% of all renewable fuels produced, with 97% of renewable fuel production going to other sectors.
In 2024, SAF production is expected to triple to 1.875 billion liters (1.5Mt), accounting for 0.53% of aviation’s fuel need, and 6% of renewable fuel capacity.
The small percentage of SAF output as a proportion of overall renewable fuel is primarily due to the new capacity coming online in 2023 being allocated to other renewable fuels.
CAAF/3 & COP28
On 24 November, The Third Conference on Aviation Alternative Fuels (CAAF/3) hosted by The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Dubai. CAAF/3 delivered critical agreement on:
• A global framework to promote Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production in all geographies around the world. The aim is that aviation fuel in 2030 is 5% less carbon intensive than fossil fuel used today by the industry.
• Acknowledging that certain States have the capacity to progress as a faster pace, and that others do not.
• Capacity building, a “Finvest Hub”, and voluntary technology transfer, are all among the measures put forward to ensure that all countries can partake in a global SAF market.
• The need for a solution that can foster a global SAF market while enabling airlines to claim the environmental attributes of their SAF purchases against their decarbonization obligations, based on a global and robust SAF accounting framework.
IATA looks forward to governments delivering the supportive policies needed to enable aviation’s decarbonization.
On 13 December, countries at COP28 reached a landmark agreement.
IATA takes note of the COP28 outcome, calling on nations to transition away from fossil fuels.
This landmark agreement is an opportunity for the advancement of renewable fuels globally, including Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF).
Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF)
On 28 November, Virgin Atlantic flew world’s first 100% SAF flight from London Heathrow to New York JFK. Emirates flew the first A380 demonstration flight with 100% SAF on 22 November. Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. successfully completed a trans-Atlantic flight using 100% SAF on 19 November with a Gulfstream G600 aircraft.
ZeroAvia announced that it has completed its Series C funding round at a total of $116m. also in the UK, Project Speedbird – a partnership between Nova Pangaea Technologies, LanzaJet and British Airways – has secured a total of £9 million from the Government’s Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF) competition. The project will produce 102 million liters of SAF per year. Air France-KLM confirmed its strategic cooperation with SAF producer DG Fuels by investing in their SAF production facility in the United States. The group acquired an option to purchase up to 75,000 tonnes of SAF annually over a multi-year period beginning in 2029. This option comes in addition to the long-term offtake contract announced by Air France-KLM and DG Fuels last year. Rolls-Royce announced that it has successfully completed compatibility testing of 100% SAF on all its in-production civil aero engine types. Boeing and Zero Petroleum announced a collaboration for testing and analyzing the next generation of technologies to accelerate the supply of SAF. In Germany, the manufacturer joined aireg, the German initiative for SAF. Macquarie Asset Management will support the growth of SAF with an initial investment of up to €175 million in SkyNRG via the Macquarie GIG Energy Transition Solutions (MGETS) Fund. Fuel producer Repsol Repsol received the first ship carrying used cooking oil for its new renewable fuels plant in Cartagena, and will supply SAF to Atlas Air and Inditex for regular use on cargo flights.
In the US, Infinium and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst recently announced a $75 million project equity investment commitment to support Infinium’s Project Roadrunner.
Project Roadrunner will convert waste CO2 and renewable power into SAF and other low-carbon fuels.
This first-of-a-kind commercial-scale Power-to-Liquids (PtL) eFuels facility is expected to be the largest PtL eFuels project in North America once operational.
This investment in Project Roadrunner Investment will enable availability of SAF under innovative fuel offtake agreement with American Airlines, with financial support from Citi.
Southwest Airlines announced an updated sustainability strategy, Nonstop to Net Zero, which outlines the carrier’s path toward its goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Topsoe has signed licensing and engineering agreements with Santa Maria to develop a project, focusing on the production of renewable fuels from various renewable feedstocks. The proposed project, located in East Texas, plans to produce a combination of renewable diesel and SAF.
Emirates joined a UAE-based research consortium for renewable and advanced aviation fuels.
The consortium, Air-CRAFT, is supported by the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and UAE General Civil Aviation Authority, and comprises eight founding entities: ADNOC, Boeing, Emirates, ENOC Group, Etihad, Honeywell, Khalifa University, Masdar.
Neste and ENOC Group, a leading integrated global energy player, have agreed to collaborate to explore the possibilities of supplying and purchasing SAF in Dubai and the wider Middle East North Africa (MENA) region in the coming years.
The U.S. Department of Transportation, the FAA and Boeing will collaborate with APEC economies towards developing SAF to increase access to supply for use by region’s airlines.
In Asia, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) and its members pledged to work together to strive for a SAF utilization target of 5% by 2030.
In Singapore, The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), GenZero, and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have completed a 20-month SAF pilot, which commenced in February 2022, in partnership with Temasek.
The pilot found that while Singapore is operationally ready to supply SAF, more is needed to support adoption.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Scoot, the two airlines within the SIA Group, announced their target of replacing 5% of their total fuel requirements with SAF by 2030.
Korean Air has partnered with LX Pantos, a global logistics company, to expand the use of SAF on cargo flights to achieve net-zero carbon emissions.
Hydrogen
Japan Airlines signed an agreement with three hydrogen electric aircraft/engine manufacturers on joint studies for introducing sustainable hydrogen-powered flights to Japan.
Airports and ground handlers
Swissport committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Menzies Aviation, together with Wizz Air, has announced it is performing fully electric turnarounds at Budapest Airport.
Munich Airport is intensifying its existing climate targets and now intends to achieve Net Zero by 2035 rather than 2050 as previously announced.
Heathrow Airport has expanded its SAF scheme which encourages airlines to switch to SAF by reducing the price gap between kerosene and SAF.
Shell and Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTHA) signed a long-term agreement to blend SAF on all aircraft fueled at the airport, starting in 2024.
Changi Airport Group (CAG) has launched Changi Carbon Offsets, giving passengers the option to offset the carbon emissions from their air travel, regardless of the airline that they are travelling with.
Monday, April 29, 2024
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