Singapore Airlines (SIA) and its low-cost sibling Scoot have started using sustainable aviation fuel on flights from their Changi Airport home base following the launch this week of a 12-month pilot programme in which neat SAF will be blended locally, certificated and delivered via existing infrastructure. Under the initiative, driven by the Singapore government, the waste-to-fuel producer Neste will provide 1,000 tonnes of SAF, which will be blended with refined jet fuel at ExxonMobil’s Singapore facilities. Use of the fuel is expected to cut aircraft carbon emissions by 2,500 tonnes. The programme is a collaboration between SIA, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and GenZero, a division of state investment company Temasek, which is focused on global decarbonisation projects. In a parallel initiative by CAAS, SIA and Temasek, SAF credits will be available for purchase from this month, initially enabling corporate travellers and freight forwarders to help cut the carbon emissions of passenger and cargo flights, reports Tony Harrington.

“There is broad-based consensus amongst government and industry leaders around the world that the decarbonisation of the aviation sector and the achievement of net zero targets by airlines will require large-scale SAF production,” said CAAS Director-General Han Kok Juan. “This first successful uplift of blended SAF is an important milestone in Singapore’s journey towards sustainable aviation. It shows that the Singapore Changi Airport is SAF-ready.” The programme will also provide operational experience in adoption of SAF, which the CAAS is studying as part of a Sustainable Air Hub Blueprint to be published early next year.

Lee Wen Fen, SVP Corporate Planning for Singapore Airlines, said the start of the pilot was “an important milestone in the SIA Group’s decarbonisation journey and a clear demonstration of the company’s commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Working together with our partners, we will continue to support the adoption of SAF in Singapore.”

Geraldine Chin, Chairman and Managing Director of ExxonMobil Asia Pacific, added: “We are proud to supply certified SAF to Singapore Airlines in this inaugural pilot. ExxonMobil is bringing its deep capabilities in fuels manufacturing and logistics to help customers such as SIA achieve their net zero ambitions. We are focused on growing our lower emissions fuels business by leveraging technology and infrastructure, and continuing research in advanced fuels that could provide improved longer-term solutions.”

Renewable fuels producer Neste is preparing to start SAF production in Singapore from the first quarter of 2023, expanding an existing renewable diesel plant to additionally produce up to 1 million tonnes of SAF per year.  Sami Jauhiainen, the company’s VP Renewable Aviation for the Asia-Pacific region, said the collaboration through the Singapore programme “demonstrates the potential of SAF in reducing aviation’s emissions and helps accelerate its use in Singapore and globally.”

Under the SAF credit programme, 1,000 credits will be offered, one for every tonne of neat SAF to be delivered under the 12-month pilot. It is estimated that the initial SAF credits will reduce CO2 emissions from aircraft by 2,500 tonnes, equating to 2.5 tonnes per credit. The purchases are expected to help stimulate demand for the fuel and support the development of a SAF industry in Singapore.

The credits will be registered in a pilot project within the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB} Book & Claim System, designed to ensure that SAF credit transactions are conducted transparently and without double-counting of credit usage.

Initially, to help mitigate the carbon emissions created by their air travel, corporate customers and freight forwarders will be able to buy SAF credits directly from Singapore Airlines. Alternatively, freight forwarders will also be able to sell SAF credits to their cargo customers as a means of helping to recompense their own carbon emissions from business operations.  Then, from the fourth quarter of this year, all Singapore Airlines customers will be able to buy a mix of SAF credits and carbon offsets as part of the SIA Group Voluntary Carbon Offset Programme.

The airline group will also collaborate with Climate Impact X, a global exchange for carbon credits, to offer a combined portfolio of SAF and carbon credits to help meet corporate demand for SAF.

“As we progress with the SAF pilot in Singapore, we can now offer more opportunities for our corporate customers and travellers to mitigate their carbon emissions using SAF credits, which are registered and accounted for within the RSB Book and Claim System,” said SIA’s Lee Wen Fen. “This will help to accelerate and scale up the collective adoption of SAF.”

CAAS DG Han Kok Juan said: “The creation of a trusted and vibrant marketplace for the sale and purchase of SAF credits in Singapore will help support the adoption of SAF, which is essential for the decarbonisation of the aviation sector.”

Frederick Teo, CEO of GenZero, the investment platform wholly-owned by Temasek, welcomed the start of SAF use by SIA and Scoot on flights departing Changi Airport. “We have also been working with our project partners and the Climate Impact X global exchange to pilot innovative products for SAF credits,” he said. “Such credits represent an important way to crowd in financing from environmentally-conscious corporates and institutions to reduce the cost premium and encourage greater adoption of SAF to decarbonise global aviation. We look to the SAF credits arising from this project being available by the end of the year.”

Mikkel Larsen, CEO of Climate Impact X, said: “The current lack of incentives for the adoption of green fuels has meant that prices continue to remain high and economically unviable. SAF credits can help to spur adoption by enabling competitive price discovery and channelling finance towards projects that can drive the use of sustainable fuels at the scale necessary to support decarbonisation in the aviation sector.”

Arianna Baldo, Programme Director, RSB, said: “Singapore Airlines’ participation highlights how this innovative approach can add value for companies who are serious about decarbonising the aviation sector.”  

In neighbouring Malaysia, the national oil and gas company, Petronas Dagangan Berhad (PDB), and the nation’s largest air hub, Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), have pledged to jointly increase the long-term supply of sustainable fuel for airlines, following successful demonstrations on two recent flights by Malaysia Airlines, one from Amsterdam, the other from KLIA to Singapore with SAF produced by Neste.

To align with its commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and ahead of the 2027 mandatory phase of the CORSIA international carbon offsetting scheme, Petronas is evaluating developments of both greenfield and brownfield biorefineries as well as co-processing at existing facilities.

“Exploring the supply of SAF at KLIA is a natural progression for us with aviation fuel being one of our key products,” said Petronas CEO Azrul Osman Rani. Having supplied SAF for two commercial flights by Malaysia Airlines, he said Petronas had shown it had the capabilities and infrastructure to supply SAF to the airport “from now onwards to support the aviation industry’s sustainability agenda.”

Philip See, Group Chief Sustainability Officer of Malaysia Airlines Group, said the carrier would increase its use of SAF for flights in Malaysia as part of its commitment to achieving socio-economic development and reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. “Moving forward,” he said, “we will look to make SAF the cleaner and more viable energy option for our regular flights by 2025.” 

To support the increased adoption of SAF, in line with Malaysia’s national commitment to a lower carbon future, a dedicated taskforce has been established by the National Aerospace Industry Coordinating Office and led by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. Malaysia Airlines, Petronas and other government ministries are also participants.

Photo: Representatives from GenZero, Neste, Singapore Airlines, ExxonMobil and CAAS at the uplifting of blended SAF onto SIA flights at Changi

Two major new aerospace partnerships have been launched in Asia, one in South Korea, the other in Singapore, to help progress the introduction of carbon neutral fuels for domestic and international air services, reports Tony Harrington. Hydrogen propulsion is the focus of collaboration in Korea between Korean Air, Airbus, Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) and the French industrial gases group Air Liquide, which have joined forces to investigate the infrastructure required to support future zero-emission aircraft. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), Singapore Airlines (SIA), the state investment company Temasek, ExxonMobil and Finnish-based waste-to-fuel producer Neste have announced a pilot programme to introduce sustainable aviation fuel in Singapore from the end of July this year. Meanwhile, Airbus is forecasting a strong rebound in Asia-Pacific air traffic post-Covid, returning to 2019 levels between 2023 and 2025, and growth of 5.3% per annum over the next 20 years. This will be accompanied by the replacement of older aircraft to support the industry’s decarbonisation objectives, foresees the plane maker.

In Korea, the parties have signed a detailed Memorandum of Understanding through which Airbus will provide characteristics of hydrogen-powered aircraft, the expected energy volumes required to operate fleets of these new planes and the ground infrastructure they will need. Air Liquide will bring expertise in the production, liquefaction, storage and distribution of hydrogen fuels, while IIAC will provide an airport development plan, initially based on air traffic and distribution among terminals at the Incheon hub in Seoul, and Korean Air will focus on operational requirements including ground handling of hydrogen-powered aircraft, maintenance and flight operations.

“In the coming years, the Korean aerospace ecosystem will have to adapt to new fuels and new distribution channels,” said Anand Stanley, Airbus President Asia-Pacific. “Airbus and its partners need to be coordinated to ensure we will be ready. Together, we will prepare a roadmap to first develop hydrogen usages at and around Incheon Airport, and then build scenarios to support the deployment of hydrogen ecosystems connected to other Korean airports.” 

Air Liquide has already invested in two high-capacity hydrogen stations at Incheon, which started operation in August 2021, serving hydrogen fuel cell buses, cars and demonstration trucks, and is supplying hydrogen molecules to the stations under a long-term contract.

Soo Keun Lee, Korean Air EVP and Chief Safety and Operation Officer, added: “This MoU will be a starting point for the Korean domestic aviation industry to systemise a hydrogen supply chain and infrastructure development, where the introduction of hydrogen as an alternative fuel has been slow in relative comparison to other industries.”

Korean Air is also progressing a transition to sustainable aviation fuels, having last year signed an MoU with Hyundai Oilbank to produce and promote the use of SAFs, and having also partnered with SK Energy to buy carbon-neutral jet fuel for use on domestic air routes.

In Singapore, Singapore Airlines (SIA), supported by CAAS and Temasek, will source blended SAF from ExxonMobil, incorporating waste-based SAF produced by Neste, which is expanding its Singapore refinery to produce up to 1 million tonnes of SAF per year to support Asia-Pacific and global customers from early 2023. Also participating in the programme will be Scoot, the low-cost airline sibling of Singapore Airlines.

Neste will convert used cooking oils and waste fats from animals to produce 1.25 million litres of neat SAF that ExxonMobil will then blend with refined jet fuel at its Singapore refinery. The first batch of the blended fuel will be delivered to Singapore’s Changi Airport through the existing fuel hydrant system by late July, and from the third quarter will be used by Singapore Airlines and Scoot for flights from the hub. The project’s partners expect flight carbon emissions by the airlines to fall by around 2,500 tonnes during the year-long pilot programme.

“Sustainability will be a key CAAS priority in the coming years as we revive air travel and rebuild the Singapore air hub,” said CAAS Director-General Han Kok Juan. “The CAAS-SIA-Temasek SAF pilot is an important building block in our effort to develop a sustainable air hub. It will operationally validate SAF integration options in Singapore and provide insights on end-to-end cost components, potential pricing structures for cost recovery, and support future policy considerations for SAF deployment.”

Singapore Airlines’ SVP Corporate Planning, Lee Wen Fen, said SAF provided “a critical pathway for the success of the SIA Group’s commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. By collaborating with our partners, we can accelerate and scale up the adoption of sustainable aviation fuels in Singapore.”

Temasek’s Managing Director, Sustainable Solutions, Frederick Teo, added: “The SAF pilot marks an important step in our commitment to operationalise solutions to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors like aviation. We look forward to learning useful operational lessons from the pilot and working closely with our partners to advance the frontiers of sustainable aviation through impactful industry-wide decarbonisation strategies.”

The Airbus participation in the Korean programme is similar to a partnership it announced late last year with another Asia-Pacific airline, Air New Zealand, in which the aircraft maker committed to provide hydrogen aircraft performance details and ground operations characteristics, while the airline said it would assess the impact which hydrogen-powered aircraft might have on its network, operations and infrastructure. As well as exploring new aircraft designs, Air New Zealand has also announced that initially it wants to replace or retrofit with ‘novel propulsion systems’ its fleet of 23 Q300 turboprop aircraft from 2030, followed by its fleet of larger ATR 72-600s.

“We’ll be working closely with Airbus to understand opportunities and challenges, including achievable flying range and what ground infrastructure or logistics changes may be required to implement this technology in New Zealand,” said the airline’s Chief Operational Integrity and Safety Officer, Captain David Morgan. He said the MoU with Airbus also provided an opportunity for the airline to participate in the design and definition of hydrogen-powered aircraft, which the airline is actively considering alongside electric and hybrid-powered planes for domestic operations.    

Ahead of the Singapore Airshow that starts tomorrow, Airbus has released its 20-year Global Market Forecast for the region. It foresees a requirement for 17,620 new passenger and freighter aircraft, with nearly 30% of these replacing older, less fuel-efficient models.

“We are seeing a global recovery in air traffic and as travel restrictions are further eased, the Asia-Pacific region will become one of its main drivers again. With an ever-greater focus on efficiency and sustainable aviation in the region, our products are especially well positioned,” said Christian Scherer, Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Airbus International.

“Our modern portfolio offers a 20-25% fuel burn and therewith CO2 advantage over older generation aircraft and we pride ourselves that all our aircraft products are already certified to fly with a blend of 50% SAF, set to rise to 100% by 2030. In addition, our newly launched A350F offers efficiency gains of 10 to 40% compared to any other large freighter, existing or expected, both in terms of fuel consumption and in CO2 emissions.”

Globally, in the next 20 years, Airbus believes there will be a need for around 39,000 new-build passenger and freighter aircraft, of which 15,250 will be for replacement. “As a result, by 2040 the vast majority of commercial aircraft in operation will be the latest generation, up from some 13% today, considerably improving the CO2 efficiency of the world’s commercial aircraft fleets,” said the aircraft manufacturer, which pointed to a 53% decline in global aviation emissions per revenue passenger kilometre since 1990.

“In view of further ongoing innovations, product developments and operational improvements, as well as market-based options, Airbus has a clear ambition to achieve the air transport sector’s target to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

Photo: Korean Air Boeing 787

The Asia-Pacific region, the world’s largest combined air transport market, has edged closer to lower carbon air services with significant initiatives announced in two countries, Singapore and New Zealand, reports Tony Harrington. Commencing in 2022, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) will conduct a 12-month trial of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) at Changi International Airport with Singapore Airlines and state-owned investment company Temasek. It will also partner with Airbus on a two-year feasibility study into production, infrastructure and procedures for hydrogen-powered aircraft operations. In New Zealand, a partnership has been formed between Finnish renewable fuels company Neste and Wellington-based fuel corporation Z Energy to import sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel, in line with the government’s commitment to transition to a low-carbon economy. Air New Zealand and Airbus have also announced a partnership to investigate how hydrogen propulsion could be applied to the airline’s domestic operations.

Although Asia-Pacific accounts for 38% of global air journeys, it lags Europe and the US in progressing sustainable aviation. In a post-COP26 communique, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), which represents 14 operators, said commercialisation of SAF was critical to reducing aviation’s emissions and government support was essential for the industry to reach net zero by 2050, which AAPA members committed to in September.

“Facilities for producing SAF are severely lacking in Asia-Pacific compared to other regions,” said AAPA’s Director General, Subhas Menon. “Taxes, onerous regulations and other penalties would only increase the cost of travel without any benefit to the environment. Conversely, government incentives and investment would contribute to the effective development of sustainable fuels and new energy sources to bolster the industry’s efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.”   

In Singapore, CAAS, Singapore Airlines and Temasek have issued a Request for Proposal, through which select, unnamed producers and suppliers have been invited to develop and implement plans to provide blended SAF. The pilot programme follows a study by the Singapore government and key industry participants to examine the operational and commercial viability of SAF at Changi Airport, one of the biggest and busiest air transport hubs in the region.

CAAS Director-General Han Kok Juan said sustainability was a key priority for the aviation industry as it recovered from the pandemic and SAF a critical enabler of decarbonisation. “The pilot, which will incorporate the blending of neat SAF in local facilities, certification of blended SAF and delivery to Changi Airport, is a significant step to operationally validate SAF integration options in Singapore. It will provide insights on end-to-end cost components, potential pricing structures for cost recovery and support future policy considerations for SAF deployment,” he said. The announcement of the Singapore SAF trial coincided with the release at the COP26 summit of the SAF Policy Toolkit, developed by the World Economic Forum’s Clean Skies for Tomorrow SAF Ambassador’s Group, of which Singapore is a member (see article).

On the study with Airbus that will look at demand for and production of alternative aviation fuels, Han said recovery from Covid-19 “will not be a return to business-as-usual but an opportunity to rebuild an aviation sector that is more sustainable. It is not a question of whether, but of how, to make flying greener and developing concrete pathways to achieve that goal while ensuring that air travel is still accessible.”

Sabine Klauke, Chief Technical Officer, Airbus, added: “The decarbonisation of our industry requires a combination of approaches, hydrogen being one of them, and will need unprecedented cross-sector collaboration to create the new aviation infrastructure ecosystem. We are therefore pleased to have CAAS as a partner, as we embark on this exciting journey.”

The CAAS-Airbus partnership initially will consider the technical feasibility of an airport hydrogen hub and infrastructure to support operations by hydrogen-powered aircraft, including the production, storage and distribution of hydrogen, ground services for aircraft, logistical equipment and refuelling systems. In addition to provision of hydrogen, the study will consider how alternative fuels could be integrated into airport developments, either from the start or progressively as technology evolved.

In New Zealand, Z Energy has partnered with Neste to import sustainable fuels. Earlier this year, as part of a broader decarbonisation strategy, the government announced it was considering SAF blending mandates, a policy already being rolled out in Europe to boost demand for SAF to levels that supported commercial production. Z Energy is a major provider of fuel in New Zealand, supplying airlines, shipping, road transport and industry. It owns and operates pipelines, terminals and bulk storage infrastructure, supplies over 200 auto fuel retailers, and owns 15.4% of Refining NZ, the country’s only oil refinery. Together with Air New Zealand, Z Energy is a strong advocate of local SAF production.

Sami Jauhiainen, Neste’s VP Business Development, Renewable Aviation, said collaboration with Z Energy was designed to grow the availability of SAF and renewable diesel in New Zealand, and to support the country’s emission reduction targets. “While the market for SAF is today more mature in Europe and North America, where regulatory frameworks create a growing market, we expect the Asia-Pacific region to follow on that path sooner rather than later,” said Jauhiainen, who in January will transfer to Singapore to take up the new role of VP Asia Pacific for Neste Renewable Aviation. The company has also announced it will open an Asia-Pacific Research and Development Centre in Singapore, to undertake advanced analytical and raw material research with partners in Singapore and across the APAC region.

Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka has expressed confidence investors and global SAF providers would also focus on Australia, once appropriate policy settings were in place. She told the recent IATA SAF Symposium: “We need government support to ensure the seed capital that’s needed and the funding to get up to scale is there and available, along with the tax offsets needed to motivate that investment cycle. We’re doing our bit with the Australian government to find solutions to get the ball rolling.

“We see great things happening in the US, and we’re really buoyed by that because we think some of the first mover investments that have been made elsewhere in the world will also increase the odds of success in Australia. Then the costs of experimentation and innovation are a bit lower and we can partner with others to make headway more quickly that we’d otherwise be able to do. We have to do that with support from other stakeholders, including government.

“When that curve starts to move in the right direction, all those first movers are going to be looking at the opportunities that exist globally but haven’t yet been delivered. I would fully expect that we would have companies arriving here who want to leverage the technology and capabilities that they have elsewhere, knowing that they have got a ready market for the output and hungry to just take in the opportunity.”

Earlier this year, Virgin’s rival Qantas announced a partnership with BP to explore opportunities to establish a SAF industry in Australia.

“Even though we have been flying a lot less, we’ve actually seen the same proportion of customers choosing to offset their domestic travel during the pandemic – showing that this issue remains top of mind for people,” said Andrew Parker, Qantas Group Executive Government, Industry and Sustainability. “Airlines globally have a responsibility to cut emissions and combat climate change, particularly once travel demand starts to return. The Qantas Group has set some ambitious targets to be net carbon neutral by 2050, and while offsetting emissions is a big part of that in the next few years, longer term initiatives like building a SAF sector in Australia are key.”

Photo: Singapore’s Changi Airport (© Changi Airport Group)

MORE ASIA-PACIFIC NEWS →

EASA releases status report on Europe’s SAF production and readiness to meet blending targets

19 December 2024 0

UK government sets out new Jet Zero focus and launches consultation on CORSIA global emissions scheme

18 December 2024 0

European and US research programmes expand to better understand aviation non-CO2 climate effects

16 December 2024 0

T&E joins aviation and climate scientists in urging action to reduce warming contrails

16 December 2024 0