IATA targets 1bn passengers by 2025
NAN-H-83
Passengers
By Sumaila Ogbaje
Abuja, Feb. 26, 2018 (NAN) The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has set out a target for one billion passengers to fly on flights powered by mix of jet fuel and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) by 2025.
IATA made this known in a statement by its Director-General, Alexandre de Juniac, on the tenth anniversary of the first flight to blend sustainable aviation fuel and ordinary jet fuel in Geneva.
The statement was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.
Juniac recalled that on Feb. 24, 2008, a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 flew from London to Amsterdam with sustainable aviation fuel in one of its engines.
He added that the flight demonstrated the viability of drop-in biofuels, which could be blended with traditional jet fuel, using existing airport infrastructure.
According to him, a flight completely powered by sustainable fuel has the potential to reduce the carbon emissions of that flight by up to 80 per cent.
“The momentum for sustainable aviation fuels is now unstoppable and from one flight in 2008, we passed the threshold of 100,000 flights in 2017, and we expect to hit one million flights during 2020.
“But that is still just a drop in the ocean compared to what we want to achieve.
“We want one billion passengers to have flown on a SAF-blend flight by 2025 but that will not be easy to achieve.
“We need governments to set a framework to incentivize production of SAF and ensure it is as attractive to produce as automotive biofuels,” he said.
Juniac called for determination of the industry to only use truly sustainable sources for its alternative fuels, acknowledging that some sources of biofuels for land transport had poor environmental credentials.
According to him, the airline industry is clear, united and adamant that it will never use a sustainable fuel that upsets the ecological balance of the planet or depletes its natural resources.
Juniac said the push to increase uptake of SAF was being driven by the airline industry’s commitment to achieve carbon-neutral growth from 2020 and to cut net carbon emissions by 50 per cent.
He added that a number of airlines, including Cathay Pacific, FedEx Express, JetBlue, Lufthansa, Qantas, and United, have made significant investments by forward-purchasing 1.5 billion gallons of SAF.
According to him, airports in Oslo, Stockholm, Brisbane and Los Angeles are already mixing SAF with the general fuel supply.
“On the present uptake trajectory, it is anticipated that half a billion passengers will have flown on a SAF-blend powered flight by 2025.
“But if governments, through effective policy, help the sustainable fuel industry to scale-up its production, it is possible that one billion passengers could experience an SAF flight by 2025,’’ he said. (NAN)
OYS/ELLA/AFA
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Edited by Felix Ajide