The chief executive of Jet2 has called for swifter action from the UK government to support the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to reduce the sector’s carbon footprint.
Steve Heapy told a Travel Weekly webcast: “The whole industry has to come together and try and find ways to become more sustainable and reduce our carbon footprint – and the government have their part to play as well.
“We need the government to put more investment into SAF.”
His comments came after Jet2 announced it has made an unspecified “major investment” into a new Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production plant in Cheshire (pictured).
Jet2.com will receive a “significant volume” of SAF from the plant once it is in operation to help power a fleet of up to 148 Airbus A320/321neo aircraft the company has on order.
Heapy told Travel Weekly: “We are behind our European and US counterparts. The US implemented the Inflation Reduction Act and the European Union have put money aside for the creation and support of a SAF industry.
“We don’t really have that mechanism yet in the UK. We could be in the position where we are mandated to use SAF by the mid-2020s but there’s not going to be enough production in the UK, so, ironically, we’re going to have to import SAF.
“We’re the country that invented railways, the television, the telephone, the jet engine, the internet, graphene – we’ve invented all these things and created leading industries out of these technological advancements, and with SAF we’re light years behind.
“The government has to invest more into that, it’s got to provide support to the industry.”
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Heavy said the sector does lobby government about the issue but gets a “frustrating” response of “we’re looking into it”.
“You can look at something from now till the day you die, and nothing actually happens,” he added.
“We need action, we need the infrastructure of the country to be able to support a more sustainable future, and that’s going to need government investment.
“As an industry, we are ready to work with the government, and we are consulting with the government…but we have to move faster.
“We are commercial businesses, involved in long-term decisions, do we buy aircraft, or we commit to SAF…we can’t be moving at the pace of governments, which is naturally slower than commercial businesses.”
He made his comments during a webcast about the opening of a Jet2 base at Liverpool John Lennon airport, which will start flights to 20 destinations next summer.