Virgin Australia will use SAF for flights out of Proserpine, the Whitsundays airport on the Australian mainland, between March and July this year.
SAF blends traditional jet fuel with sustainable fuel made from waste and residual feedstocks. The use of SAF dramatically reduces the carbon emissions of an operating aircraft.
For flights from Proserpine, the percentage of sustainable aviation fuel will be between 30 to 40 per cent.
As far as micenet understands, this is the first time SAF has been used for flights departing from Australian airports. Qantas uses SAF for flights departing from London and will expand its usage of SAF to flights out of Los Angeles and San Francisco this year.
“SAF represents the critical long-term opportunity in commercial aviation’s pursuit of its 2050 net zero emissions ambition,” said Virgin Australia’s chief corporate affairs and sustainability officer, Christian Bennett.
“Partnership, focused policy development and collaborations such as this with Viva Energy will be essential if we are to adopt successfully SAF’s broader use in Australia over the years and decades ahead.
“Ensuring SAF is affordable and accessible will be key to achieving lowest cost carbon abatement at the same time as maintaining the essential role of aviation in connecting Australian communities.”
The Virgin Australia-Viva Energy partnership is intended to demonstrate the viability of SAF usage in Australia.
And with aviation responsible for up to 80 per cent of carbon emissions from business events, the success of the partnership could have a significant impact on the business events sector’s ability to decarbonise in the longer term.
“Through this collaboration – and drawing on the strengths of Viva Energy’s national distribution network and experience supplying high-quality fuels and aviation operations – we will be working with Virgin Australia to establish the supply chains that will be critical to the future of the aviation industry,” said Viva Energy’s general manager for aviation, Nick Adams.
The mayor for the Whitsunday Regional Council, Ry Collins, has welcomed the choice of the local airport to pilot SAF use for domestic flights.
“It makes absolute sense that Virgin Australia would choose Whitsunday Coast Airport as the launch site for its first ongoing SAF-powered services,” said Collins.
“We are committed to driving initiatives locally that produce world-class bio-products, so I applaud Virgin Australia and Viva Energy for their commitment to SAF and for recognising the Whitsundays as an ideal location to showcase the benefits of sustainable aviation.”
