Last week’s Singapore Airshow reflected a growing focus of the air transport sector on decarbonisation across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. Impacted by the recent eruption of Covid’s Omicron variant and onerously imposed government restrictions, the show attracted just 13,000 registered visitors, less than half the 30,000 who attended in 2019, while the number of exhibitors fell by over a third. Although there was a handful of orders for narrowbody passenger aircraft and widebody freighters, many announcements focused on sustainability partnerships and initiatives by airlines, aerospace manufacturers and fuel companies. A significant number of the declarations made at the show underscored the commitment of host nation Singapore to become a sustainable aviation hub and an APAC decarbonisation leader through measures including sustainable aviation fuels, hydrogen propulsion and the use of renewable energy on the ground, reports Tony Harrington.

To guide the strategy, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said it will produce a Singapore Sustainable Air Hub Blueprint by early 2023 and has established a 20-member International advisory panel of industry and technology leaders to develop and progress the plan. Their first meeting was held on the sidelines of the show.

“While the immediate focus of the Singapore air hub is to revive air travel, we cannot lose sight of the longer-term challenge of climate change,” said Singapore’s Minister for Transport and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations, S. Iswaran. “This is a challenging endeavour, especially at a time when aviation companies are still dealing with the effects of the pandemic,” he said. “It will require strong public-private partnership and cross-sectoral collaboration to innovate and reinvent the aviation ecosystem.”

In the days before the air show, a 12-month pilot programme was announced by CAAS, Singapore Airlines (SIA), Exxon Mobil, waste-to-fuel producer Neste and state investment company Temasek to assess the supply, distribution and use of sustainable aviation fuels at Singapore’s Changi Airport.

During the event, SIA – together with aerospace companies Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Safran, plus the support of aerospace sustainability consultancy Roland Berger – signed the Global Sustainable Aviation Fuel Declaration, an initiative urging airlines, aerospace suppliers and fuel partners to support accelerated development, production and use of SAF. SIA was the first airline to sign, underscoring its commitment to decarbonisation, said Lee Wen Fen, the airline’s SVP Corporate Planning. “Beyond SAF, we also use multiple levers to achieve our goals, including achieving higher operational efficiency and investing in new-generation aircraft.” 

The declaration notes that to achieve a net zero target for global aviation by 2050, it is likely a production capacity in the order of 500 million tonnes of SAF would be required. “Recognising that aviation operates within a complex framework of international regulatory and safety requirements, a large-scale uptake of SAFs will require a collaborative effort from a broad range of organisations, with each playing a different role, from research, to production and logistics, to utilisation,” it says. “We will need to work progressively towards the expansion of SAF globally and regionally, with the intention of maintaining a level playing field.”

Grazia Vittadini, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer, Rolls-Royce, added: “It is important that we combine our efforts and focus into building the momentum required to drive this forward. We are all big advocates for the development of alternative propulsion solutions including hydrogen, hybrid-electric and electric, and we also recognise that SAFs are a key building block to set us on our path towards achieving our long-term decarbonisation goals.” Airbus Chief Technical Officer Sabine Klauke urged other key aviation stakeholders to also sign the declaration. “The challenge is to further increase and encourage the uptake of SAF globally, as well as incentives and long-term policies that encourage SAF use,” she said.

Oil company Shell announced at the show that it would become the first supplier of SAF to operators in Singapore, following the upgrading of its local facility to enable blending of sustainable product with conventional aviation fuel, sourced by Shell Aviation from Neste. The first batch will be blended in Europe, before the task is transferred to Singapore. “Alongside investing in our capabilities to produce SAF, we are also focused on developing the regional infrastructure needed to get the fuel to our customers at their key locations,” said Jan Toschka, Global President, Shell Aviation. To support its aim of globally producing some two million tonnes of SAF per year by 2025, and subject to a final investment decision, Shell has proposed a biofuels facility within its Energy and Chemicals Park in Singapore, with annual capacity to produce 550,000 tonnes of low carbon fuels including SAF.

At its Singapore facility, SIA Engineering Company (SIAEC) has just completed a trial of SAF in a Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine, which is used to power Airbus A380 aircraft. Conducted with Singapore Aero Engine Services (SAESL), a joint venture of SIAEC and Rolls-Royce, the trial used a 38% blend of SAF, producing 32% lower carbon emissions than conventional fossil jet fuel. “As SIAEC grows its engine services business, we recognise the importance of mitigating potential impact to the environment,” said the company’s CEO, Ng Chin Hwee. “The successful trial using blended SAF at our engine test facility marks SIAEC’s capability and readiness to support the aviation industry towards the net zero carbon emissions goal.”

Dominic Horwood, Services Director of Civil Aerospace, Rolls-Royce, said the SAF engine test was “an important milestone in accelerating the adoption of SAF in MRO services across the Asia-Pacific region, enabling our partners and customers in the transition to low carbon aviation.”

Neste and Japanese industrial partner Itochu Corporation announced plans to increase the availability of SAF in Japan by expanding a partnership they formed in 2020, through which Neste delivered its first SAF into Asia. Under the expanded agreement, Itochu will distribute Neste SAF in Japan, initially at the nation’s two largest international airports, Narita and Haneda in Tokyo. Neste is expanding its Singapore refinery, which it expects to increase SAF production from 100,000 tonnes to up to 1 million tonnes a year by the end of Q1 2023. 

Hydrogen propulsion also featured at the Singapore show. Beyond the SAF developments, CAAS, Changi Airport Group (CAG), Airbus and the energy engineering company Linde, announced a joint two-year study into developing an aviation hydrogen hub in Singapore. The partners will explore the transportation and storage of hydrogen, and its delivery to aircraft at existing and future airports. “While our immediate focus is on sustainable aviation fuel, we also need to explore longer-term alternatives such as hydrogen to better understand the potential and seize opportunities,” explained CAAS Director General Han Kok Juan.

In the lead up to the air show, Airbus partnered with Korean Air, Seoul’s Incheon international airport, and French industrial gases corporation Air Liquide to explore opportunities and infrastructure requirements for hydrogen powered regional flights in South Korea. “The Asia-Pacific region will play a key role as we work towards making climate-neutral aviation a reality,” said Sabine Klauke of Airbus. “By partnering with Changi Airport and with Incheon Airport, Airbus will leverage the operational and technical expertise of two of the world’s leading hubs. The studies we will carry out together reflect the need for a cross-sectoral approach, including manufacturers, airlines, regulators, airports, energy providers and academia. We need bold and coordinated action to achieve our goals.”   

For the first time in Asia, Boeing demonstrated its new 777X widebody jet, for which Singapore Airlines is an early customer. The airline announced at the show orders valued at $2.8 billion for 22 GE9X engines to power the 777X, which Boeing claims will deliver 10% lower fuel use and emissions than its competitors.

Embraer, Rolls Royce, and Norwegian regional operator Widerøe announced a 12-month partnership to study “a conceptual zero emission aircraft”, examining new propulsion technologies including all-electric, hydrogen fuel cell, and hydrogen-fuelled gas turbine powerplants.

“Technological innovations can potentially enable clean and renewable energy to power a new era of regional aviation,” said Arjan Meijer, CEO of Embraer Commercial Aviation. “The aim of our collaboration is to create new flight solutions that serve expanded market segments in a sustainable manner. I strongly believe this could lead to full sustainable connectivity, including very short haul intercity operations.”

Added Andreas Aks, CEO of Widerøe Zero, the air mobility incubator subsidiary of Widerøe: “Working with the world’s leading aerospace technology firms, our aim is to understand how a viable business can be built around zero emissions regional concepts, and to advise the manufacturers on operational requirements and customer expectations to design the best possible and sustainable air mobility service.”

Photo (Airbus): Static display at Singapore Airshow

Virgin Atlantic has purchased 2.5 million litres (2,000 tonnes) of sustainable aviation fuel from Neste for use in its UK operations and is expected to be delivered in the first half of this year. The SAF will be sourced from renewable waste and residue raw materials, with the supply and distribution of the blended fuel managed by ExxonMobil, the airline’s largest fuel supplier at London Heathrow. Neste says its MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel, in its neat form, can reduce GHG emissions by up to 80% on a life-cycle basis compared with fossil jet fuel. Having operated the airline industry’s first-ever biofuel flight back in 2008 from Heathrow, Virgin Atlantic says the agreement with Neste represents its first commercial supply of SAF in the UK and an important step towards the airline’s target of 10% SAF by 2030. Meanwhile, the Virgin Group has formed a strategic partnership with chemical conversion company Agilyx to research and develop lower carbon fuels, including SAF, produced from plastic waste. A first waste-to-fuel facility is planned to be in the US, with an aspiration to roll out similar plants in other countries, including the UK.

Commenting on the Neste SAF fuel purchase for its Heathrow operations, Holly Boyd-Boland, VP Corporate Development at Virgin Atlantic, said: “After fleet renewal, SAF represents the greatest opportunity to decarbonise aviation in the short to medium term. This supply is the beginning of commercial SAF at scale for Virgin Atlantic and whilst only enough to operate 140 flights between London and New York, it’s a starting point.

“To meet our 10% SAF target in 2030 we need to deliver this volume 70 times over, requiring cross-industry and government action to support commercialisation of SAF at scale, particularly in the UK. We will continue to work closely with Neste and ExxonMobil, as well as wider industry partners, to find innovative solutions to achieve this goal.”

Responded Jonathan Wood, VP Renewable Aviation at Neste: “We are ready to support the aviation industry and UK government’s policy ambitions to increase the use of SAF to at least 10% by 2030. We need to act now – SAF is a proven solution with clear benefits and is already available today.”

Added Paul Greenwood, Chairman of Esso UK, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil: “We’re proud to play our part in this pioneering agreement, facilitating a safe, secure and reliable supply of lower emission aviation fuel via our dedicated pipeline network.”

The Virgin Group partnership with Agilyx, in which it has been an investor for many years, aims to break down unrecyclable plastic waste through a pyrolysis process to produce synthetic crude oil that will then be refined into a lower carbon fuel. The two partners intend to work on the development of production facilities based on Agilyx’s proprietary conversion technology. Cyclyx, a feedstock company that is majority owned by Agilyx, will source the plastic waste to be used for the fuel in the first facility.

“This platform is unique as it will be used for lower carbon fuels and has the future opportunity for the production of circular plastics,” said Tim Stedman, CEO of Agilyx. “We view plastic waste as a valuable above ground resource that is not widely tapped into. Through our technology, we aim to unlock the value of plastic waste that otherwise may have been destined for landfill or incineration.”

The Virgin Group says it wants to provide the solution to the global market and expects Virgin Atlantic and other Virgin companies to be early adopters as part of the group’s net zero by 2050 ambitions.

“The creation of lower carbon fuel is an important step in the journey towards net zero. We are very pleased to be adding this project to the range of investments we continue to make aimed at addressing these issues,” commented Josh Bayliss, CEO of the Virgin Group.

Shai Weiss, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, said although sustainable aviation fuel was the key solution for decarbonising the aviation sector, there was still a long way to go. “Clearing the skies for tomorrow requires radical collaboration across innovators, producers, investors and airlines,” he said. “We are delighted that Virgin Group and Agilyx are leading the charge to pilot new pathways in lower carbon fuels and we look forward to working closely with them to achieve our 10% SAF target by 2030.”

Photo: Virgin Atlantic

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

Global oil producer ExxonMobil and Finland’s Neste, producer of sustainable aviation fuel from waste residues, have partnered to provide commercial-scale distribution of SAF in France, in line with a 1% blending mandate which took effect in the country on 1 January. Through this deal, Exxon Mobil will distribute aviation fuel that includes a 30% of SAF produced by Neste from feedstock including used cooking oil and animal fat waste, reports Tony Harrington. The Exxon-Neste collaboration to provide “a continuous and scalable supply of SAF into France” is the latest in a series of initiatives taken in Europe to help meet escalating SAF blending requirements. Among other measures, Latvia’s Air Baltic recently operated a flight from Helsinki to Riga using a 37% blend of Neste SAF. The airline also revealed that its use of SAF increased by 20% in 2021 and announced plans to further boost its use of sustainable fuels in 2022.

Charles Amyot, ExxonMobil’s lead country manager in France, said that through the new collaboration with Neste to provide SAF at major airports in France, the oil company was “delivering solutions that enable customers to meet product performance requirements while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” Jonathan Wood, Neste’s VP Europe, Renewable Aviation, said the company’s drop-in SAF was “readily available” to the aviation industry as it continued to decarbonise operations. “This supply agreement is an important milestone for Neste, and we are excited to support ExxonMobil.”

France is the third European nation to introduce a SAF blending mandate. Beyond the new 1% SAF requirement for all commercial flights from French airports, the country has legislated an increase to 2% by 2025 and 5% by 2030, as part of the EU’s European Green Deal. 

Neste commented: “Sustainable aviation fuel is recognised globally as the most feasible option to significantly reduce aviation emissions in the near term. Through SAF mandates and partnerships like this, we will together drive the increased use of SAF and help build momentum in tackling aviation’s emission reduction challenge.”

From a 2021 capacity to produce 100,000 tonnes of SAF from 10 types of waste and residue raw materials, Neste plans to increase its global output 15-fold to around 1.5 million tonnes by 2023 through expansion of its Singapore and Rotterdam refineries. Singapore is expected to produce up to 1 million tonnes of SAF by the first quarter of 2023, while up 500,00 tonnes more will come from Rotterdam.   

The ExxonMobil and Neste announcement said the companies would supply SAF to “the largest airports in France” but did not specify which gateways it would support or where the SAF would be produced.

Separately, Groupe ADP, which operates airports including the country’s two largest hubs, Paris Charles De Gaulle and Orly, has announced that it is a stakeholder in six SAF development projects in France. “The goal is to develop, by 2025 at the latest, sustainable fuel production in France capable of serving Paris airports,” said Amélie Lummaux, Chief Officer of Sustainable Development and Public Affairs at Groupe ADP.

In May 2021, Air France, in partnership with oil company Total, Airbus and Groupe ADP, operated the first long haul-flight using French-produced SAF, an Airbus A350 service from Charles De Gaulle Airport to Montreal, Canada. The 16% SAF blend, produced from cooking oil, was manufactured by Total at its Le Mède biorefinery in southern France, and its Oudalle facility, near Le Havre. By 2024, Total has pledged to produce SAF at its Grandpuits zero crude complex near Paris.

The recent Air Baltic SAF flight, on the 380-kilometre sector between Helsinki and Riga, was operated with an Airbus A220-300, which incorporated a 37% blend of SAF produced from animal fats and used cooking oils – the largest volume of sustainable fuel the airline has used on any flight, and just shy of the 38% EU aviation blending mandate set for 2045. The airline, which operates a single-type fleet of 32 A220-300s between the Baltic region and 70 destinations in Europe, the Middle East and the CIS, has declared its intention to become a sustainability leader in European aviation, with a strategy heavily based on the use of this highly-efficient aircraft type and increasing use of SAFs. Air Baltic is the largest operator of the A220-300 and has firm orders for 18 more, plus up to 30 options or purchase rights.

Also in Europe, and in partnership with Malaysia’s national energy company, Petronas, Malaysia Airlines used a 38% blend of Neste SAF on its recent first flight with sustainable aviation fuel, an Airbus A330 service from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur (see article).