British leisure airline Jet2.com will begin using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at a second UK airport after signing an agreement for 650t of the fuel from Shell Aviation at London Stansted.
The airline has already announced that it will use a 1% blended version of the fuel for its flights from Bristol Airport this year and the latest deal sees its total purchases of the fuel totalling to around 1,000t.
Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com, said: “We see SAF as critical in helping the industry decarbonise and as well as doing this, we can use this to ensure our operations are ready for SAF uptake both now and in the future, when we anticipate its use will grow materially.
“We very much see 1% as the starting point and we want to grow this over the coming years.”
The investment means that Jet2, which is committed to reaching net zero by 2050, will be able to prepare for the UK Government’s incoming SAF mandate which is set to be introduced from 1 January 2025 and will see fuel suppliers tied to a 10% SAF blend target for 2030.
However, despite the airline’s investments, which include the new Fulcrum NorthPoint SAF plant in England, Heapy said that more needed to be done to encourage use of the fuel and called on the government to implement its price revenue mechanism earlier than the 2026 date currently outlined.
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By GlobalDataHe said that the mechanism would allow the industry to “secure investor confidence, build the UK SAF plants that we need, and turbocharge the UK SAF industry” and warned that the UK aviation industry would be at a disadvantage without greater support.
