British Airways and Phillips 66 Limited have signed a multi-year sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supply agreement. The SAF produced at the Phillips 66 Humber Refinery in North Lincolnshire will help power a number of the airline’s flights starting in early 2022.
On Friday (December 3, 2021), British Airways announced the signing of a multi-year sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) agreement to supply a number of the airline’s flights from early 2022. In a first SAF production at scale for the UK, the fuel will be produced at the Phillips 66 Humber Refinery in North Lincolnshire. SAF is produced from sustainable waste sources and can reduce lifecycle CO2 emissions by over 80 percent compared to traditional Jet-A fuel. Under the agreement, British Airways will purchase enough SAF to reduce lifecycle CO2 emissions by nearly 100,000 tonnes, the equivalent of powering 700 net zero CO2 emissions flights between London and New York with their fuel-efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
In Friday’s announcement, British Airways’ Chairman and Chief Executive, Sean Doyle, said,
“This agreement marks another important step on our journey to net zero carbon emissions and forms part of our commitment, as part of International Airlines Group, to power 10% of flights with SAF by 2030. The UK has the resources and capabilities to be a global leader in the development of SAF and scaling up the production of SAF requires a truly collaborative approach between industry and government.
“We are excited to develop our relationship with Phillips 66 Limited further with a view to growing production capacity and using a wider range of sustainable waste feedstocks to supply our future flights. The development of sustainable aviation fuel is a major focus for us and forms part of our commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 through a series of short, medium and long-term initiatives.”
Also commenting on the new SAF partnership, Phillips 66’s Lead UK Executive and General Manager of the Humber Refinery, Darren Cunningham, said,
“The Humber Refinery was the first in the UK to co-process waste oils to produce renewable fuels and now we will be the first to produce SAF at scale, and we are delighted British Airways is our first UK customer. We’re currently refining almost half a million litres of sustainable waste feedstocks a day, and this is just a start. Markets for lower-carbon products are growing, and this agreement demonstrates our ability to supply them.”
British Airways’ parent company IAG is investing $400 million over the next 20 years in the development of SAF. Last year, Phillips 66 Limited invested significantly to expand their production of fuel from waste feedstocks as part of a broader energy transition plan to reduce the carbon intensity of their refinery operations, while supporting 1,000 Humber Refinery jobs. Both British Airways and Phillips 66 support the UK government’s plans for a future SAF mandate and a business model for investing in advanced waste to jet fuel projects the participation in the Department of Transport’s Jet Zero Council Delivery Group.
Source: British Airways