Our commitment to sustainable aviation fuel

Sustainable aviation fuel at Airbus

Sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, is a synthetic fuel which can reduce aircraft emissions by up to 80% across the lifecycle.

Today, all Airbus aircraft are capable of flying on a maximum 50% blend of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and conventional fuel. By 2030, all Airbus aircraft and helicopters will be capable of flying with up to 100% SAF. Our next-generation single aisle aircraft is being designed with SAF compatibility in mind.

SAF is one of the key ways that the aviation industry can reduce emissions, and could contribute more than 50% of the aviation industry’s carbon dioxide emissions reduction according to ATAG’s “Scenario 3”. However, encouraging airlines and operators to switch from fossil-based fuels like kerosene is a challenge. SAF is currently several times more expensive than traditional aircraft fuel, and it is less readily available.

Airbus agrees that SAF will be an important way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and is positioning itself as a catalyst in the ecosystem to promote SAF production and uptake by deploying SAF in its own operations, by forming cross-industry partnerships, and by making strategic investments.

What is SAF?

12 June 2025 — 00:00:50

Airbus SAF Flight

Best of SAF Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Deliveries and internal logistics

Airbus has been using SAF in its operations for nearly a decade and has committed to increasing the share of SAF used to power its internal operations to at least 30% by 2030.

Airbus has proposed aircraft deliveries to customers with SAF onboard since 2016, and as of 2025, all five Airbus delivery centres around the world (Toulouse, Hamburg, Mobile, Tianjin and Mirabel) can offer aircraft deliveries with SAF at no extra cost to customers.

Since 2019, Airbus has been using SAF on its Beluga fleet to transport aircraft parts between locations including Hamburg, Broughton, Bremen, Toulouse and St Nazaire.

Since 2022, Airbus has also used SAF for test flights.

Shuttles and employee business travel

It isn’t just aircraft parts that need to travel between different Airbus sites. For this reason, Airbus has also been exploring ways to increase the use of SAF in its internal shuttle services and as part of employee business travel.

Shuttles

Since 2022, the shuttle that offers inter-site travel between Hamburg and Toulouse for Airbus employees has been using a 34% SAF blend.

SAF fares agreement with Air France-KLM

Since 2024, Airbus has been purchasing SAF options for employee business travel connecting Paris with Hamburg, Madrid, Marseille, Munich and Toulouse.

Partnerships

Acting as a catalyst

Airbus believes that scaling the SAF ecosystem isn’t possible without collaboration from different partners including airlines and operators. For this reason, Airbus has partnered with several airlines to trial the use of SAF in their operations.

Two pilot schemes launched in 2024 were:

Airbus partnered with easyJet to launch a pilot scheme on the Toulouse-Bristol route. Airbus financed 106 tonnes of SAF, the equivalent amount of fuel necessary to run flights between Toulouse and Bristol on a 30% SAF blend during the three month trial period. The trial aimed to act as a proof of concept, demonstrating how airlines and corporate organisations can share the cost of SAF in a mutually beneficial way, ultimately creating additional supply and demand for SAF.
Airbus provided technical guidance and expertise to WizzAir during a SAF operational trial where WizzAir operated more than 50 flights using a blend of SAF and traditional jet fuel.

During the WizzAir trial, a passenger survey was also launched, emphasising the importance of understanding how travellers feel about low-carbon aviation, and whether they would be willing to pay extra to reduce the emissions on their flights.

In terms of partnerships that support the use of SAF in its own operations, Airbus has a long-standing relationship with TotalEnergies, who have been providing SAF for aircraft deliveries in Toulouse since 2016. Since 2024, TotalEnergies supply enough SAF to meet more than half Airbus’ needs in Europe, and the two companies also have a shared research programme that is working on the transition to 100% SAF capability.

In recent years, Airbus has also signed MOUs with Neste – to jointly advance the production and uptake of SAF – and with OMV – to explore joint solutions that broaden access to SAF for various customer groups, stimulating new demand and supporting investments in new SAF production facilities.

Strategic investments

Acting as a catalyst

In 2024, Airbus made two investments:

Airbus invested in the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Financing Alliance investment fund (SAFFA). SAFFA makes investments that support the production of SAF that is eligible for RefuelEU Aviation or CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation) certification.
Airbus invested in SAF producer and technology company LanzaJet. LanzaJet will use the investment to scale their SAF production which uses the Alcohol-to-Jet pathway.

In 2022 and 2023, Airbus made a number of investments alongside Qantas. In 2022, Airbus and Qantas agreed to invest up to $200 million to develop the SAF industry in Australia. In 2023, Airbus and Qantas, alongside the Queensland Government, invested in a Queensland biofuel facility being developed by Jet Zero Australia in partnership with LanzaJet. These investments seek to address the availability of SAF in Australia, improving accessibility to SAF for airlines and operators who want to use it.

Book and Claim

To further address the challenge of accessibility, Airbus has launched a “Book and Claim” demonstrator. This initiative aims to boost both supply and demand for SAF worldwide, providing a flexible and scalable solution to accelerate SAF adoption.

In simple terms, the book and claim approach allows a buyer to “book” a certain amount of SAF and “claim” the corresponding emission reduction, even if the fuel is used elsewhere. This system will improve SAF accessibility for potential customers, particularly those located far from supply points or production facilities.

As a facilitator, Airbus purchases SAF certificates and manages the associated sustainability attributes through the registry of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), a recognised sustainability certification body. These certificates will then be resold to interested customers, such as aircraft and helicopter operators, thereby stimulating short-term demand for SAF.