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Image: Emirates
Dubai’s Airline Emirates has continued its partnership with Neste to use sustainable airline fuel (SAF) for flights departing from Changi Airport. Correspondingly, approximately 3.3 million litres of blended SAF are being integrated into the fuelling system of Singapore’s award winning airport.
Co-piloting with Neste
For those unfamiliar with SAF, the fuel is generated from waste products from fossil fuel combustion, or from plant based sources. Since it is not directly produced from fossil fuels, it can reduce the overall carbon footprint of an airline.
Neste is an energy and marketing company from Finland, and it uses renewable waste and residue raw materials, like cooking oil and animal fat waste to produce its SAF. Their refinery in Singapore is the largest SAF production facility in the world, with an annual capacity of about 1.26 billion litres.
Taxiing before flight
Part of the reason why Emirates is focussing on SAF may have to do with how the airline industry has been criticised for its carbon emissions over the last few years.
It may also be related to Singapore’s recent decision: all flights departing from Singapore must use at least 1% SAF by 2026, increasing to 3-5% by 2030. Other parts of the world are likewise requiring SAF in their airports — the European Union has made a regulation declaring that the minimum share of SAF available at EU airports should be 70% in 2025.
Simultaneously, Emirates is also operating flights fuelled by SAF from Amsterdam, Paris, Lyon, and Oslo; the airline collaborated with Neste earlier this year to supply 2.6 million litres of unblended SAF in the fuelling systems of Amsterdam Schiphol airport.
Furthermore, since SAF is usually used in a blended form — SAF is incorporated by up to a 1:1 ratio with normal jet fuel — Emirates has also partnered with Neste and other companies to operate two demonstration flights from Dubai with 100% SAF in each engine. These demonstration flights serve as a reference to support future certification approving the use of 100% SAF for commercial airline operations.
Flying into Asia
Some may note that most of these efforts to incorporate SAF are happening in the West. However, the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is expected to make up more than 50% of global passengers by 2040. It’s likely that more attention will be placed on sustainability efforts in APAC.
“Emirates’ investment into Neste-produced SAF in Singapore marks a first step forward in our SAF adoption in Asia, a region that is primed to become a leading supplier of SAF, which continues to be in short supply,” said Adel Al Redha, the Deputy President and Chief Operations Officer of Emirates.
“While the activation of this agreement marks a milestone in our SAF journey in a new region, there’s still a lot of work to do. And as we procure SAF for the short term, we’ve got our sights set on longer-term agreements to help scale up a steady supply of SAF for our operations.”
The future of airlines, it appears, is an impending divorce with fossil fuels, followed by an impending long-term partnership with SAFs.
