Airline group IAG has announced a new sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) purchase agreement with e-SAF producer Infinium.
The deal was announced on the sidelines of the Aviation Carbon event currently being held at Heathrow Airport.
Under the 10-year agreement, Infinium will supply power-to-liquid e-SAFs to the UK market from the end of 2026, covering five IAG airlines: Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, Level and Vueling. do.
Read: City Insider: Scalable SAF solutions will overcome adoption hurdles
Produced from water, waste CO2, and renewable energy, e-SAF is expected to reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 90% compared to today’s traditional jet fuel. The fuel will be produced at Project Roadrunner, a newly renovated former gas extraction facility in West Texas.
This new class of fuels is unencumbered by feedstock limitations, has higher emissions reductions compared to traditional jet fuels, and uses relatively less land and water area. It is also a “drop-in” replacement for aviation fuel that does not require changes to existing aircraft engine designs.
Jonathan Counsell, Head of Group Sustainability at IAG, said: “So far we are on track to meet our 2030 SAF target of 10% and agreements with innovators like Infinium are helping us achieve this goal. That’s the key.” Aviation is working hard as an industry to decarbonise and policies should focus on solutions such as SAF, not just cost increases that risk impacting the competitiveness of European aviation. . What the industry needs is additional policy support to attract funding to build SAF plants and reduce aviation’s dependence on fossil fuels. ”
