Aer Lingus and British Airways owner IAG has significantly boosted its net zero ambitions by agreeing its largest ever Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) purchase agreement.
IAG – which also owns Spanish airlines Vueling, LEVEL and Iberia – acquired approximately 12% of the global supply of SAF in 2023.
The new deal sees IAG buying 785,000 tonnes of e-SAF from US company Twelve – which is based Berkeley, California and is a pioneer and world leader in the area of carbon transformation and power-to-liquid technology.
IAG will use the SAF to feed all of its airlines (Aer Lingus, Iberia, BA, Vueling and LEVEL) and the fuel will reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% versus conventional jet fuel.
IAG chief executive, Luis Gallego, said: “We have a roadmap to achieve net zero by 2050, including a target to fly with 10% Sustainable Aviation Fuel by 2030. The shortage of sustainable fuel, globally, continues to be a problem for our industry, although innovative companies like Twelve are an important part of the solution.”
“This new deal will contribute towards our 2030 SAF target. We would like to see similar projects scale in Europe, and we look forward to working with governments across our key markets to build a SAF industry to deliver jobs, economic growth and a stable supply of SAF.”
