Jet2.com is to start using a blend of sustainable aviation fuel at Bristol airport almost a year ahead of the government’s SAF mandate due to be introduced from 2025.
The UK’s third largest airline has purchased more than 300 tonnes of SAF from Q8Aviation, which will be used to add a 1% SAF blend onto a number of flights from the west country airport this year.
The total emissions of the SAF that Jet2.com has purchased are claimed to be at least 70% lower than those of conventional aviation fuel.
Parent company Jet2 has already made an equity investment into a new SAF production plant to be constructed in the northwest of England.
The Fulcrum NorthPoint facility, being developed by Fulcrum BioEnergy, will operate as a waste-to-fuels plant, with Jet2.com set to receive more than 200 million litres of SAF once it is operational. The plant will also generate up to 1,500 jobs.
However, the company warned that the UK remains reliant on fuel imported at a high-cost, putting British airlines and holidaymakers at a competitive disadvantage without a fully-fledged domestic SAF industry.
Chief executive Steve Heapy said: “Unfortunately, there is still a long way to go to unlock the huge potential of a UK SAF industry.
“Without more supplies of UK SAF and greater support to incentivise its uptake and reduce its cost, our industry and UK holidaymakers are at a disadvantage.
“This is too much of an important opportunity to miss, as such an industry could provide 20,000 jobs and £3bn in economic activity by 2035.
“The UK government must implement the price revenue mechanism earlier than the current timeline of 2026 which means we can secure investor confidence, build the UK SAF plants that we need, and turbocharge the UK SAF industry.”
He added: “Travel and tourism is a force for good and, like all industries, we know how critical it is to mitigate our climate impacts.
“Like many, we see SAF as essential in helping the industry do this, which is why we are using a SAF blend at Bristol airport in 2024 so that we can realise its benefits and prepare our operation for what we anticipate will be more and more SAF uptake.
“We very much see 1% as the starting point and we want to grow this materially over the coming years.”