Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific said it has launched Asia’s first major corporate sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) programme with PetroChina and Shell supplying the fuel.
Cathay said it is working with corporate customers to use SAF for the first time at Hong Kong International Airport. The pilot programme provides corporate customers the opportunity to reduce their carbon footprint from business travel or airfreight by contributing to the use of SAF uplifted for the first time from Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) on Cathay Pacific flights.
Cathay Pacific is kick-starting the programme with eight corporates as launch customers, including AIA, Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK), DHL Global Forwarding, HSBC, Kintetsu World Express (KWE), PwC China, Standard Chartered, and Swire Pacific. “As leaders in corporate climate action, the launch customers are committed to reducing the climate impact from their business travel and/or airfreight activities by helping to facilitate the wider adoption of renewable energy by the air transport industry through the use of SAF,” Cathay said yesterday.
Chief Executive Officer Augustus Tang said: “We continue to pioneer our industry’s move towards more substantial use of SAF, especially in Asia. Last year, we were among the first carriers in the world to announce a target of 10% SAF for our total fuel use by 2030. We have made significant progress since then and are pleased that uplifting SAF from HKIA is now a reality with the strong support of the local authorities and fuel suppliers.
“In addition to our launch corporate customers, we have received a very enthusiastic response from other corporates and we welcome other interested companies to sign-up to reduce their indirect emissions from flight-related activities. Climate change is a global challenge and we need to work together to tackle it.
“We see the launch of this Corporate SAF Programme as an important step for us to engage other like-minded organisations, and a first step in sending an important demand signal to the SAF supply chain that there is firm interest in the region, not only from airlines, but also the aviation value-chain all the way to end users for both passenger and cargo transportation.”
SAF is considered the most important way to decarbonise airline operations in the next few decades, before alternatively powered aircraft can be widely deployed in commercial operations. Compared to conventional jet fuel, SAF can reduce up to 100% carbon emissions on a lifecycle basis, depending on the SAF technology used, said Cathay.
The SAF used for the launch of this programme is made from used cooking oil and animal fat waste. It is made available to Cathay by their pilot Corporate SAF Programme fuel suppliers PetroChina and Shell. The very first uplift of SAF at HKIA is made possible through a collaborative effort with many stakeholders along the supply chain and various government departments. SAF used in this programme will go through the normal aviation-fuelling infrastructure, which provides important learning for developing ongoing regular SAF supply from HKIA in the future.