Deploying SAF in our operations

What do Toulouse, Hamburg, Mobile, Tianjin and Mirabel have in common? All of these Airbus commercial aircraft assembly sites are now using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for their internal operations.

Thanks to this development, by the end of 2025, all Airbus customers, regardless of where they are taking delivery of their aircraft, can do so with SAF on board, free of charge. In 2024, 75% of the 766 aircraft deliveries used a SAF fuel blend, and this is expected to increase soon, once aircraft deliveries using SAF begin at Mirabel later this year.

SAF remains a key lever for the aviation industry’s decarbonisation goals. SAF is anticipated to provide the bulk of the emissions reductions needed by the aviation industry to reach its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimating that SAF could contribute around 65% of the reduction in emissions required.

In recent years, Airbus has been increasing the percentage of SAF used in its own operations to 16%, which includes business travel, delivery flights (where a plane is delivered to the home base of the purchasing airline following the transfer of title), and transportation of aircraft parts between different production sites.  

To achieve this, Airbus has signed agreements with SAF providers like TotalEnergies, who have been providing SAF for aircraft deliveries in Toulouse since 2016. Thanks to a partnership signed in 2024, TotalEnergies supplies more than half the SAF to meet Airbus’ needs in Europe. We have also joined forces with airlines. Volotea, which operates a Hamburg-Toulouse flight for Airbus employees as part of our internal shuttle service, has been using a 34% SAF blend on this route since 2022. And following a successful pilot in 2023, since 2024 Air France-KLM and Airbus have had a “SAF fares agreement”, with Airbus purchasing SAF options for employee business travel connecting Paris with five locations: Hamburg, Madrid, Marseille, Munich and Toulouse.

Partnerships and pilots

Looking further afield, in 2024, Airbus launched a pilot scheme with easyJet, who operate flights on the Toulouse-Bristol route, a popular route for business travel due to the proximity to Airbus’ Toulouse and Filton sites. Running between November 2024 and January 2025, the scheme saw Airbus finance 106 tonnes of SAF, the equivalent amount of fuel necessary to run flights between Toulouse and Bristol on a 30% SAF blend during the period.

In January 2025, Airbus, Wizz Air and Moeve and Charleroi Airport completed a SAF operational trial. Airbus provided technical guidance and expertise during the trial, which saw Wizz Air operate more than 50 flights using a blend of SAF and traditional jet fuel. A survey was also completed during this period, which shone a light on passenger awareness of, and attitudes towards, low-carbon aviation including SAF. 

Scaling the SAF ecosystem

Even though the quantity of SAF available has increased in recent years, demand remains suppressed due to the higher cost of SAF compared to kerosene – 2.8x according to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) 2024 Aviation Fuels Reference Prices for ReFuelEU Aviation. The industry has to address this disparity and reduce the price gap with traditional fuel. 

Although Airbus is not a SAF producer, there is a role it can play. As well as embedding the use of SAF in its own operations, Airbus invests and works with partners to scale the SAF ecosystem. In 2024, Airbus invested in SAFFA, the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Financing Alliance investment fund. SAFFA focuses on SAF that is eligible for RefuelEU Aviation or CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation) certification, although the investments can take place across different production pathways and regions. SAFFA’s first investment, in US-based Crysalis Biosciences, will help the company produce low-carbon intensity SAF and biochemicals. 

In 2024, Airbus also made an investment in sustainable aviation fuels producer and technology company LanzaJet. Airbus’ investment supports LanzaJet in scaling its SAF production process which uses ethanol, known as the Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) pathway. LanzaJet recently opened a new SAF plant in Soperton, Georgia, with the capacity to produce 9 million gallons of SAF each year.

Looking forward, Airbus plans to continue to increase the use of SAF in its own operations, with a target of at least 30% SAF in its global fuel mix by 2030.