Emirates has today announced their first SAF uplift in the UK under London Heathrow’s SAF Incentive Scheme Purchase agreement with Shell Aviation. Over 3,000 metric tonnes of SAF blended with conventional jet fuel will be supplied until the end of summer 2024.
On Wednesday (May 15, 2024), Emirates announced that they have taken delivery of SAF from Shell Aviation at London Heathrow Airport (LHR). Under Heathrow’s SAF Incentive Scheme Purchase agreement with Shell Aviation, over 3,000 metric tonnes of neat SAF blended with conventional jet fuel will be supplied into the airport’s refueling infrastructure through the end of summer 2024. This marks the first time that Emirates will be using SAF to power some flights at Heathrow, and is the largest volume of SAF the carrier has purchased to date. In net form, SAF can reduce lifecycle carbon emissions by up to 80 percent.
In Wednesday’s announcement, Emirates Airline’s Deputy President and Chief Operations Officer, Adel Al Redha, said,
“Emirates is eager to take this next step in our SAF journey with Shell Aviation and London Heathrow supporting us with this fuel supply arrangement in one of our biggest operations outside of Dubai. The LHR Incentive Programme will support the SAF market’s increasing momentum, allowing airlines like Emirates to take advantage of its availability and make it more commercially viable.
“London Heathrow’s SAF initiative also demonstrates credible action to encourage the scale up and use of SAF by airlines, building local production capabilities grounded in real demand, in addition to developing capacities across the supply chain to blend, handle and distribute SAF more widely. We hope that the initiative receives collective support of government authorities to boost more investment in SAF production in the future. While Emirates explores opportunities to increase the use of SAF within our network, we’ll continue to take other steps to reduce our emissions, with a major focus around optimising flight operations including weight reduction of aircraft and charting more efficient flight routes, among other initiatives.”
Also commenting on the SAF collaboration, Shell Aviation’s President, Raman Ojha, said,
“After our successful collaboration with Emirates to supply SAF to Dubai (DXB) last year, we are pleased to continue our support for their sustainability journey by enabling the airline to decarbonise flights out of the UK. This development also marks further progress in the growth of our global SAF supply network. Our goal is to continue to work with forward-thinking players in the aviation industry, like Emirates and London Heathrow, to make SAF available in more locations around the world.”
London Heathrow Airport’s Chief Commercial Officer, added,
“We are thrilled to support Emirates with Heathrow’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) scheme. SAF is crucial to decarbonising long haul flights as it can cut the carbon on routes like London to Dubai without the need for new aircraft or infrastructure. Thanks to commitments from airlines like Emirates, we expect to support the use of up to 155,000 tonnes of SAF at Heathrow this year. Now we need to ramp up SAF production in the UK so the country can benefit from jobs, growth and energy security as more airlines make the switch to more sustainable fuels.”
Emirates Begins SAF Uptake at London Heathrow Airport - Courtesy Emirates
A first of its kind, London Heathrow’s SAF Incentive Scheme was launched in 2022, and provides a support mechanism to reduce the price gap between conventional jet fuel and SAF by around 50 percent. Emirates' strategy is to use SAF operationally where available, share emissions costs with corporate customers or freight forwarders where feasible, cooperate on longer-term SAF projects, and support SAF ventures in the UAE. Currently, the carrier operates flights from Amsterdam, Paris, Lyon and Oslo with SAF. In 2023, Emirates collaborated with Shell Aviation to supply SAF into Dubai Airport’s fueling systems for the first time, and this May, Emirates plans to work with local partners at Singapore Changi Airport for the supply of SAF.
Source: Emirates