Airbus: Will help India create a sustainable aviation fuel marketplace

MUMBAI: India already has great assets for liquid fuel production and distribution, which combined with significant feedstock potential can accelerate the move to SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel), said Julie Kitcher, Airbus EVP, communications and corporate affairs.

SAF is currently the best option for reducing carbon dioxide emissions over the aviation fuel lifecycle with currently available aircraft types, she said.

“There is also the political will to move forward on SAF and visible commitment by many airlines to decarbonise aviation,” said Kitcher, who was in India last week.

“Airbus will work with partners across the aviation value chain in India to stimulate the changes needed to create a SAF marketplace – to drive up the demand for and, in turn, the supply of SAF,” she said adding that the company already promotes research on SAF through strategic partnerships, including one with the French consortium of Axens, Total Energies, Safran and GMR Airports.

“As a technology company, Airbus can and intends to work with partner ecosystems on the design and development of sustainable technologies as well as the testing and certification of Indian SAF,” she said. SAF promises advantages to support a sustainable aviation for future generations and will also bring a high number of employment opportunities with new technologies and production plants that a fast-growing India needs for its young, working population, she added.

Currently, in India, the third largest domestic aviation market in the world, carriers such as IndiGo, SpiceJet have operated trial flights with aviation turbine fuel blended with SAF, however its use hasn’t extended to regular flights. But the civil aviation ministry and the petroleum and natural gas ministry have been jointly working to mandate a certain percentage of blending of SAF with jet fuel.

Worldwide, quite a few airlines have moved beyond trial flights. The Lufthansa Group, for instance, recently introduced a new fare category called "green fares", which combines the cost of carbon offsets with the regular airfare. The fares, available on its flights throughout Europe, subsidize the airline’s purchase of SAF, which is more expensive than the conventional aviation turbine fuel. A part of green fare also goes towards funding climate protection projects.

Commenting on the green fares, Kitcher said: “The aviation sector’s priority is clear: reducing carbon emissions. This will not happen overnight as our industry has lengthy investment and innovation cycles and high technological barriers to entry. Therefore, we also need to develop market-based measures, which will allow us to remove, or compensate for, so-called “residual” emissions,” she said. The mechanism to remove these measures must not only be effective, but also allow a level-playing field for all operators on a global level, such as the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), she said.

In 2016, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) adopted CORSIA, the carbon offset and reduction scheme for international flights. From 2027, all international flights, barring a few, will be subject to CORSIA's offsetting requirements. For now, the big Indian carriers have taken the initial steps towards making aviation sustainable.

Last year, Tata Group airlines, Air India, AirAsiaIndia and Vistara signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Institute of Petroleum to collaborate and work together on the research, development, and deployment of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs).

Largest Indian carrier by market share, IndiGo has signed an agreement with CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP), Dehradun for deployment of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in India and globally.