Since the last Airbus Summit in 2022, I have been carefully looking at Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and its progress because of the investments which are going into it. Last time, I was surprised to know the cost of SAF being three to four times of ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel) and a clear indicator of why it is not yet popular. Airbus, along with many other companies are continuing to invest in SAF, a fuel which is much needed, is expensive but is certified to be 50% of total fuel in an aircraft. In 2024, 75% of the 766 aircraft deliveries of Airbus used a SAF fuel blend.
At the Airbus Summit 2025, SAF is being discussed in detail and the second day of the summit started with a fireside chat with Judia Fidler, who works on Environment Sustainability and Carbon Reduction and Vanessa Hudson, the CEO of Qantas. This was followed by Julie Kitcher (Chief Sustainability Officer at Airbus), Elena Schmidt (Executive Director, RSB), Gabrielle Walker (Chief Scientist, CUR8). Airbus and TotalEnergy had showcased the SAF truck at the exhibition on Day 1 of the Airbus Summit. The bowser which carried SAF is 100% electric.
What has Airbus done so far?
Production at Airbus sites, Toulouse, Hamburg, Mobile, Tianjin and Mirabel are using SAF for their internal operations. Airbus is offering SAF for delivery flights without any charges for its customers, even though SAF remains expensive. IndiGo, Vistara (now merged with Air India) and erstwhile AirAsia India (now merged with Air India Express) have tried SAF in the past, while Indian Oil’s Panipat refinery is working on producing SAF.
SAF is fast becoming the first level towards decarbonisation goals and will likely provide a bulk of the emissions reductions needed by the aviation industry to reach the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, which IATA aims to achieve.
In recent years, Airbus has been increasing the percentage of SAF used in its own operations to 18%, which includes business travel, delivery flights (where a plane is delivered to the home base of the purchasing airline following the transfer of title), and transportation of aircraft parts between different production sites.
Toulouse is pretty much the centre of SAF revolution with TotalEnergies providing SAF for aircraft deliveries in Toulouse since 2016. Volotea, which operates a Hamburg-Toulouse flight for Airbus employees as part of our internal shuttle service, has been using a 34% SAF blend on this route since 2022. And following a successful pilot in 2023, since 2024 Air France-KLM and Airbus have had a “SAF fares agreement”, with Airbus purchasing SAF options for employee business travel connecting Paris with five locations: Hamburg, Madrid, Marseille, Munich and Toulouse. Airbus launched a pilot scheme with easyJet, who operate flights on the Toulouse-Bristol route, a popular route for business travel due to the proximity to Airbus’ Toulouse and Filton sites. Running between November 2024 and January 2025, the scheme saw Airbus finance 106 tonnes of SAF, the equivalent amount of fuel necessary to run flights between Toulouse and Bristol on a 30% SAF blend during the period.
Scaling the SAF ecosystem
Even though the quantity of SAF available has increased in recent years, demand remains suppressed due to the higher cost of SAF compared to kerosene – 2.8x according to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) 2024 Aviation Fuels Reference Prices for ReFuelEU Aviation.
In 2024, Airbus also made an investment in sustainable aviation fuels producer and technology company LanzaJet. Airbus’ investment supports LanzaJet in scaling its SAF production process which uses ethanol, known as the Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) pathway. LanzaJet recently opened a new SAF plant in Soperton, Georgia, with the capacity to produce 9 million gallons of SAF each year. Looking forward, Airbus plans to continue to increase the use of SAF in its own operations, with a target of at least 30% SAF in its global fuel mix by 2030.
Something interim?
Airbus is taking a significant step toward scaling the adoption of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) by testing a new “Book and Claim” approach. This initiative aims to boost both supply and demand for SAF worldwide, providing a flexible and scalable solution to accelerate SAF adoption. The first MoU was signed by SMBC Aviation Capital, followed by AerCap, Comlux, Luxaviation, Novespace, Rive Private Investment and SAF Aerogroup, who confirmed their interest in joining this collaborative initiative, reinforcing the industry-wide intention to increase SAF adoption.
In simple terms, the book and claim approach allows a buyer to “book” a certain amount of SAF and “claim” the corresponding emission reduction, even if the fuel is used elsewhere. Through a pilot programme running throughout 2025, Airbus will leverage this system to improve SAF accessibility for potential customers, particularly those with limited volumes and far from supply points.
As a facilitator, Airbus will purchase SAF certificates and manage the associated sustainability attributes through the registry of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), a recognised sustainability certification body. These certificates will then be resold to interested customers, such as aircraft and helicopter operators, thereby stimulating short-term demand for SAF.
The pilot programme is expected to generate key insights into the capacity and robustness of this innovative book and claim mechanism. It will also assess market interest in third-party facilitation of such integrated SAF solutions.
What are the challenges?
The challenges are multifold. The first is cost, the second is lack of mandate for anyone which makes it voluntary and airlines and countries have different priorities with near agreement that everyone will not be on the same page.
The other major challenge is the practicality of having SAF at airports. SAF is currently being filled via bowsers and airports, at least larger hubs, have invested in getting rid of bowsers and using hydrants instead for safety and simplification. At airports where refuelling is done via bowsers, with SAF – the turnaround time would likely increase as two bowsers fill fuel instead of one, with a separate bowser needed for SAF. On a question related to this, Julie Kitcher answered on how they are focusing on adding SAF in operations at Toulouse so that they learn this in real time and make changes to optimise operations.
With a multi step approach for Airbus to go towards meeting the 2050 net-zero target, SAF seems to be the first frontier.
Author is in Toulouse to attend the AIrbus Summit 2025 on invitation of Airbus and sponsored by Airbus.
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