As part of a multi-million-pound investment programme to overhaul and reduce emissions from its ground fleet at London’s Heathrow Airport, more than 90% of British Airways’ vehicles and ground support equipment (GSE) are now either zero emissions electrical equipment when used or driven, hybrids or are operating on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) fuel. The airline has further plans over the next two years for switching other equipment and vehicles to electric, hybrid or HVO. As well as saving CO2 emissions, the changes are aimed at reducing negative air quality impacts around the Heathrow area. Heathrow Airport itself has switched over 95% of its operational diesel fleet to run on HVO. It has also launched an initiative, the Heathrow Fly Up, to create awareness among travellers in response to a survey showing only 14% had heard of sustainable aviation fuels.

The ground energy transition programme at Heathrow by British Airways is part of a £7 billion ($9bn) investment plan unveiled recently by the airline to transform many parts of its business over the next three years.

“We are committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner and our focus isn’t just about reducing emissions in the air, but on the ground too,” commented Tom Moran, British Airways’ Director of Heathrow. “This major investment into our vehicles at Heathrow is our largest investment in more sustainable airport ground operations to date and is part of our wider environmental objective to minimise emissions from our airside ground operation.”

Having replaced more than 750 pieces of GSE with HVO-fuelled versions last year, BA is this year introducing 135 new electric baggage tugs that will use new energy-efficient chargers. Over the next two years, it will replace diesel passenger aircraft steps with electric alternatives, saving 370 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, swapping diesel-powered cargo vehicles with hybrid electric versions and replacing all diesel passenger buses with electric or HVO versions that will save 800 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. A large charging park is now in the early stages of development at the airport.

Replacing the use of diesel with HVO in GSE is an interim measure, says BA, while it gradually transitions to zero emissions or hybrid equipment. Provided by the airline’s current SAF supplier Phillips 66, the use of HVO is anticipated to save more than 6,000 tonnes of CO2 per year compared to traditional diesel fuel, the equivalent of more than 8,000 round-trip economy passenger journeys between Heathrow and New York JFK, it says.

“I am incredibly proud of this project, which has been driven by our Heathrow ground operations teams and encapsulates our BA Better World ethos of raising awareness of our strategy to all of our colleagues, and inspiring them to play a part in minimising our environmental impact where possible,” said Carrie Harris, Director of Sustainability at British Airways. ”Their energy, enthusiasm and innovative approach in bringing the project to life shows what can be achieved and this investment demonstrates our ongoing commitment to making improvements across our business that will benefit both our customers and colleagues.”

The airline has just published its latest sustainability report, BA Better World Report 2023, which shows it reduced carbon intensity in 2023 to 86.2g CO2/epk (equivalent passenger km) – 10% lower than pre-pandemic levels in 2019 and a 3% intensity improvement from 2022. Intensity performance declined to 110g CO2/pkm (passenger km) in 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, and has recovered steadily since then. Emissions from jet fuel consumption fell from just over 19 million tonnes in 2019 to just under 15 million tonnes in 2023, a fall of 21%.

The airline reports using more than 50,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel in 2023, representing 1% of total fuel supply, a five-fold increase on the 9,980 tonnes of SAF utilised in 2022, and mitigating around 150,000 tonnes of CO2 in lifecycle emissions. BA helped corporate and cargo customers reduce over 142,000 tonnes of their Scope 3 emissions in 2023. It is aiming to reach 10% SAF usage by 2030.

Meanwhile, Heathrow Airport has set a goal for 11% of the jet fuel used at the airport to be SAF by 2030. Its pioneering scheme to incentivise the use of SAF at the airport by approximately halving the price gap between conventional jet fuel and SAF to make it more affordable to airlines has, it says, resulted in around 10% of the world’s SAF being used at Heathrow in 2022. The scheme is targeting 2.5% of all fuel used at Heathrow to be SAF in 2024, representing up to 155,000 tonnes of fuel.

Heathrow says SAF is the single biggest driver to help it reach net zero by 2050 and is trying to raise its importance and understanding to travellers passing through the airport. It has launched a “biofuel breakfast”, dubbed the Fly Up, in association with Heston Blumenthal’s Perfectionists’ Café in Terminal 2, which is cooked with oil that is then collected, cleaned and recycled by waste management service Quatra. The processed used oil is then sent elsewhere to be transformed into biofuels including SAF and HVO.

The Heathrow Fly Up

In addition to just 14% of travellers having heard of SAF, new research by Opinium of 2,000 UK adults reveals only 27% believe SAF will make the aviation industry more sustainable. Heathrow says it is actively encouraging passengers to use climate tech company CHOOOSE that has a platform to provide an option to support SAF or certified reforestation projects, regardless of their airline or end destination.

“We are delighted to partner with Heston Blumenthal’s Perfectionists’ Café to introduce the Fly Up, a breakfast that not only gives passengers a delicious start to the day but will raise awareness about SAF and its potential to transform the industry,” said Matt Gorman, Heathrow’s Director of Carbon. “By demonstrating how cooking oils can be converted into biofuels, we want people to understand how SAF is a real solution to decarbonise aviation and show how we’re continuing our mission to get to net zero by 2050.”

Top photo: British Airways HVO fuel tanker at Heathrow

Christopher Surgenor

Editor

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London’s Heathrow Airport is making available a £38 million ($46m) fund to encourage airlines using the airport to power their aircraft in part by sustainable aviation fuel, with the incentive aimed at covering up to 50% of the extra cost of SAF compared to conventional jet fuel. The oversubscribed incentive scheme started in 2022 with six airlines participating and Heathrow is now aiming to triple the percentage of SAF used this year to 1.5% and become one of the world’s leading airport users of SAF. English airports are targeted by the UK government to be zero-emission by 2040 and a second consultation has been opened by the Department for Transport (DfT) that aims to gather more information and feedback on the scope of the 2040 goal and the route for implementation. In other UK news, the DfT has announced the five winning proposals for a share of the Advanced Fuels Fund competition, aimed at developing SAF production plants in the UK, and Birmingham Airport and ZeroAvia are to partner on zero-emission flights.

Heathrow says it is the first airport in the world to offer airlines a contribution towards making the extra cost of purchasing SAF and participants in the scheme include IAG, Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines, Air France, KLM and JetBlue. The airport says it is committed to progressively increasing the SAF used each year, with the aim of reaching 11% of all fuel by 2030. This year, the incentive is expected to save over 81,000 tonnes of CO2.

“Team Heathrow is now probably the biggest user of SAF in the world, but it is currently all imported,” said the airport’s outgoing CEO, John Holland-Kaye. “If Britain really wants to compete with the scale of ambition and the credible action seen from the US and Europe, supportive government policy is needed, and it is needed now.”

Heathrow says the introduction of the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States, which includes a tax credit scheme, “is designed to lure SAF investors to America and leaving the UK at risk of missing out on the multi-billion-pound industry.” It is calling for a Contracts for Difference price support mechanism to help cut the price premium and for the UK government to make a decision this year on committing into legislation a 10% mandate for SAF use by 2030.

“Delay could mean the UK SAF industry suffers and cannot keep up internationally,” argues Heathrow. “By delivering both, the UK will see an immediate and tangible impact – with investment, jobs and skills seen right across the UK.”

While details of the proposed SAF mandate are due to be published shortly (see article), which will require having at least five commercial-scale plants under construction in the UK by 2025 to meet the mandate’s target, the government has announced five awards under its £165 million ($200m) Advanced Fuel Fund that will allocate funding to support UK advanced fuels projects until March 2025. The grant funding is to be provided to first-of-a-kind commercial and demonstration scale projects at all development stages up to the start of construction.

With regards to a second application window for the fund, DfT is still considering whether or when further funding windows should proceed. In the event of a second application window, the competition would be open to all eligible projects and not just those already selected.

The five projects receiving funding in the first window are:

• Alfanar Energy (Lighthouse Green Fuels) – £11,001,00
• Fulcrum BioEnergy (NorthPoint) – £16,764,000
• LanzaTech UK (DRAGON) – £24,960,843
• Velocys (Altalto) – £27,000,000
• Velocys (e-Alto) – £2,523,094

Commenting on its award, Fulcrum CEO Eric Pryor said: “We applaud the UK government and the DfT for taking another step towards significantly reducing net carbon emissions for hard-to-abate sectors, including aviation, through the support of low-carbon SAF projects, including our Fulcrum NorthPoint facility. This funding furthers our engineering efforts for the plant and well positions Fulcrum for additional project funding for the facility. We look forward to bringing our patented process, technical expertise, IP and experience from the successful commissioning and initial operations of our first commercial-scale plant [in the US] to the UK to make Fulcrum NorthPoint a success.”

In December, Fulcrum announced the successful production of low-carbon synthetic crude oil from landfill waste at its world’s first commercial-scale waste-to-fuels Sierra BioFuels Plant, located in Nevada. The company’s development programme includes plants in Indiana, Texas and the NorthPoint project in the UK.

In other UK airport news, the government is keen to accelerate decarbonisation of airport operations, which would have the co-benefit of significantly decreasing harmful nitrogen and particulate matter concentrations around airports. The government’s Jet Zero strategy calls for domestic aviation to achieve net zero emissions by 2040 and for all airports in England – other UK countries have devolved powers – to be zero-emission by the same year.

According to a decarbonisation report by the UK Airport Operators Association, over two-thirds of airports in England have a zero emissions target for 2040. However, the DfT notes from responses to its first consultation in 2021 “a mixed feedback” on the target, with comments largely around why airports should be treated differently to other similar infrastructure. Some airports suggested a net zero airport operations target may be more appropriate for 2040, rather than zero emissions. On the other hand, some NGOs, environmental groups and consultancies considered the target could be more ambitious and include Scope 3 indirect emissions that an airport does not control but can influence.

The DfT subsequently commissioned Mott MacDonald to undertake a technical feasibility study to support its understanding of the achievability of the 2040 target. The study’s report, published last May, agreed that it was feasible from a technology and commercial perspective for airports to achieve zero carbon emissions from Scope 1, 2 and 3 airport operations by 2040.

The aim of the second consultation, which closes on May 2, is to clearly define which airport operations are and are not in scope, considering the emission sources and responsible entities. The government is also looking at several policy implementation options to achieve the target: a legislative requirement, a voluntary agreement or a commitment by each airport to produce a roadmap to achieve zero emissions by 2040.

“A key aim will be to guarantee that any approach ensures that the optimum outcome is achieved in terms of emissions reductions under the target, while ensuring unnecessary burden on airport operators and other stakeholders is avoided,” says the DfT.

Meanwhile, the UK’s Birmingham Airport has entered a long-term partnership with hydrogen-electric aviation pioneer ZeroAvia that will aim to make possible regular domestic zero-emission flights “in the coming years”. The airport plans to use an area near to its disused terminal building as a potential location for hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, testing and operations.

ZeroAvia is currently working on bringing to market a zero-emission system capable of flying 20-seat aircraft 300 nautical miles by 2025, making possible green air travel from Birmingham to destinations like Glasgow, Aberdeen, Belfast and Dublin. It is aiming for an emissions-free, 80-seat aircraft flying up to 1,000 nautical miles by 2027, bringing into range Mediterranean holiday destinations.

The airport said the partnership formed an important part of its journey to becoming a net zero airport by 2033, a target it set out in its carbon roadmap published in 2022.

“Birmingham Airport can be a central spoke in a green flight network in the UK, given that any domestic mainland destination will be reachable from the airport using our first systems in 2025,” said Arnab Chatterjee, VP Infrastructure, ZeroAvia. “Given the commitments of the Jet Zero strategy on domestic aviation, it is fantastic to engage with forward thinking airports that want to be early innovators and developers to deliver the vision of bringing truly clean, quiet and pollution-free flights to the UK.”

Responded the airport’s Chief Finance & Sustainability Officer, Simon Richards: “We could, quite conceivably, see the first hydrogen-powered domestic passenger flight taking off from BHX in a few years. That’s mind-blowing.”

Photo: Heathrow Airport

Christopher Surgenor

Editor

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Sixty companies in the World Economic Forum’s Clean Skies for Tomorrow Coalition have signed a commitment to accelerate the supply and use of sustainable aviation fuel to reach 10% of global jet aviation fuel supply by 2030. Signatories represent a global group of airlines, airports and fuel suppliers, as well as non-aviation companies that rely on corporate air travel for their business operations and which recognise decarbonising aviation lies with all that depend on it. With the current commercial production of SAF at less than 0.1%, significant scale-up must take place to meet this target, writes Susan van Dyk. The problem is the high cost of SAF, and producers and carriers alone are unable to carry the burden, said Lauren Uppink Calderwood, Head of Aviation, Travel and Tourism Industries at WEF. The commitment represents support for the UN High Level Climate Champions’ 2030 Breakthrough Outcome for aviation, one of over 30 sectoral near-term targets deemed critical to halving emissions by 2030 and delivering the promise of the Paris Agreement, said WEF.

Development of a new generation of hybrid-electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft could help reach the next efficiency level, but deployment at scale would take time and initially focus on the short to medium range, while SAF is the most promising option to significantly reduce the aviation industry’s carbon emissions in the near term, and for long-haul flying, even beyond 2050, said the coalition’s members in a statement.

SAF is critical, Jonathon Counsell, Group Head of Sustainability at International Airlines Group (IAG), told a press conference to announce the commitment alongside Heathrow Airport CEO John Holland-Kaye and Shell’s President of Global Aviation, Anna Mascolo, held during WEF’s Sustainable Development Impact Summit. The three organisations are steering committee members of the Clean Skies for Tomorrow (CST) initiative.

They acknowledged the 10% target was challenging, but said scale-up could be achieved with the right policies. “Yes, it’s ambitious – we are talking 30 million tonnes by 2030 – but with the right policies in place we can deliver that,” indicated Counsell. “This will get us on the trajectory to deliver a truly sustainable industry by 2050.”

Said Mascolo: “We have real momentum now to make a difference. Shell is committed to supplying 10% SAF by 2030 on all its sales of jet fuel and is making investments into SAF facilities. It has committed to supplying 2 million tonnes of SAF per year by 2025.”

According to Holland-Kaye, the 10% target “is only a milestone and will probably improve”. He added: “The critical thing is that we make progress really quickly. If we don’t break the back of this in the next decade, we will have no chance of reaching net zero by 2050. This is the decade for transforming the energy supply chain.”

They highlighted the role of policy in order to reach the target. “Policy is absolutely the enabler to get these plants built and must address three aspects,” said Counsell. “It must create a demand signal, create price stability by using a mechanism such as contracts-for-difference and reduce the capital risk through, for example, loan guarantees. We welcome the progress that we have seen in the last few months in the US, EU and UK but we will need additional policy to attract the investment to get these plants built. The proposed US blenders tax credit is probably in the lead for effectiveness in encouraging investment.”

Holland-Kaye believes the right policies can unlock billions of dollars in financing. “Banks have told me SAF is one of the most investible sectors they have seen. It’s very simple – all you need is the mandate and the price stability mechanism and that will unlock the financing to make this transformation happen.” He also called for a greater commitment at ICAO’s Assembly in 2022 to target net-zero emissions by 2050.

“Achieving our ambition will require commitment, innovation and cross-industry collaboration from a wide range of stakeholders,” said Uppink Calderwood. “We are calling on governments, international organisations and others to work with us to take important steps forward through new policies, targeted investments and regulations that create a level playing field while incentivising transformation. Together we can take a giant leap towards the decarbonised, sustainable and affordable aviation industry needed for our global future.”

One of the signatories to the 10% by 2030 pledge, and a member of the CST steering committee, is Indian carrier SpiceJet. “Our announcement emphasises our commitment to the planet and prosperity,” said CEO Ajay Singh. “Upscaling SAF with a global approach will boost India’s economy. Accelerating the SAF industry with a global approach will bring opportunities for economic growth and transformation in India.”

Photo (Boeing): Indian airline SpiceJet is one of the signatories to the 10% by 2030 SAF commitment

Susan van Dyk

GreenAir Correspondent

www.svdconsulting.ca

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Ahead of the G7 Summit this week, Heathrow Airport has become the first major UK airport to incorporate sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) into its main fuel supply system by taking delivery of a batch of HEFA-blended fuel produced by Neste and supplied by Vitol Aviation. The amount supplied is only equivalent to powering between five and 10 short-haul flights but the airport said it aimed to serve as proof of concept to enable much greater use of SAF in the future. Heathrow is calling on the UK government to set escalating mandates requiring a minimum of 10% SAF use by airlines by 2030, increasing to at least 50% by 2050. It notes that 58% of Heathrow airlines by air traffic movements have already committed to 10% SAF usage by 2030. Eurocontrol estimates that during pre-pandemic 2019, just 39 of 1,657 European airports accounted for 80% of conventional fuel used by departing aircraft and suggests it would be more efficient to concentrate SAF supply on these 39 airports.

Commenting on Heathrow’s first incorporation of SAF into its operation, Chief Executive John Holland-Kaye said: “As we get ready to welcome the G7, we can demonstrate how this technology can significantly cut carbon from aviation, whilst protecting its benefits. The UK government now has an opportunity to create a new British growth industry by backing SAF production and also be leaders in the race to a net zero 2050.”

The Neste MY SAF supplied to Heathrow was produced from sustainable waste and raw materials such as used cooking oil and animal and fish fat waste, with a claimed lifecycle GHG emissions reduction of up to 80% compared to fossil jet fuel.

“We are pleased that Vitol are enabling Neste MY SAF to be used at Heathrow, one of the leading global hub airports,” said Jonathan Wood, Neste VP Europe for Renewable Aviation. “We are also proud to play a role in lower-emission travel to the G7 conference, where sustainability will be one of the key topics.”

Added Vitol Aviation’s Leticia Hachuel: “We are delighted to be the first to deliver SAF to Heathrow. Whilst this is a proof of concept, the need to realise lower-emission options for flying is critical and we are looking at how we can use our expertise to offer more sustainable options.”

The airport, which has set an objective to become one of the most sustainable airports in the world, said SAF was the key tool in the decarbonisation of aviation and with the UK hosting COP26 in Glasgow later this year, it was time for government, investors and industry to collaborate in scaling up the use of SAF to ensure real momentum this decade.

“Now is the time for less talk and more action, and government ministers should set an escalating mandate to blend SAF into fuel and stable incentives over five to 10 years to foster investment in production,” said Holland-Kaye.

A briefing by Eurocontrol says at only 0.05% of total jet fuel consumption pre-Covid, the use of SAF remains very low in Europe but if a 10% target by 2030 could be achieved, CO2 emissions from EU departing flights could be reduced by 8%. Besides the need to stimulate SAF uptake, it points out another crucial issue is the logistics of getting fuel to airports. Before the Heathrow announcement, only seven of the 39 major EU airports – Frankfurt, Paris CDG, Amsterdam, Helsinki, Stockholm-Arlanda, Hamburg and Munich – have started to supply SAF, finds Eurocontrol. Providing a 12.5% SAF blend to these 39 airports would achieve the same 8% reduction in CO2 emissions from flights departing the EU, it argues.

However, with SAF currently more than twice as expensive as fossil jet fuel, the use of 12.5% SAF in the mix would lead to a corresponding increase in fuel costs for airlines and tempting some to increase their use of economic tankering to avoid paying the SAF premium. Tankering has the effect of increasing the weight of the aircraft because of the extra fuel uplifted, and therefore CO2 emissions. Eurocontrol also suggests the increase in SAF costs would also reduce the competitiveness of airlines operating from the EU and it may therefore require re-balancing policy measures.

Photo: Heathrow Airport