The International Air Transport Association (IATA) on February 26 said that it aims to have one billion passengers travel on flights powered by “a mix of jet fuel and sustainable aviation fuel” (SAF) by 2025.
“We want 1 billion passengers to have flown on a SAF-blend flight by 2025. That won’t be easy to achieve. We need governments to set a framework to incentivize production of SAF and ensure it is as attractive to produce as automotive biofuels,” IATA’s Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac was quoted as saying in a statement.
According to the statement, the push to increase the uptake of SAF is being driven by the airline industry’s “commitment to achieve carbon-neutral growth” from 2020 and to cut net carbon emissions by 50% compared to 2005.
“On the present uptake trajectory it is anticipated that half a billion passengers will have flown on a SAF-blend powered flight by 2025,” the statement said.
“But if governments, through effective policy, help the sustainable fuel industry to scale-up its production, it is possible that one billion passengers could experience an SAF flight by 2025.”
IATA set the target for 2025 on the tenth anniversary of the first flight which used a blend of SAF and ordinary jet fuel.
The statement added that a flight completely powered by sustainable fuel has the potential to reduce the carbon emissions by up to 80%.
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