Air New Zealand has received a shipment of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) into Wellington, its first delivery to the nation’s capital city and another small step towards its target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Manufactured by EcoCeres in China from 100 percent used cooking oil and supplied and blended by Exxon Mobil, the 500,000-litre delivery is equivalent to *165 flights on an A320 aircraft between Auckland and Wellington, however, it should be noted that the fuel will actually not be used on the heavy use aircraft of the Airbus fleet, but on ATR regional domestic aircraft. The SAF delivered to Wellington represents life-cycle carbon emissions savings of at least 80 percent compared with fossil jet fuel.
Air New Zealand’s Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer, Kiri Hannifin says moving away from purely using fossil fuels for Air New Zealand’s operations is critical.
“As the main driver of climate change, the global economy, including New Zealand, must rapidly transition away from our high reliance on fossil fuels. For a small island nation in the South Pacific, alternatives are even more important because we are heavily reliant on flying to connect with each other in our own country, as well as when we travel abroad. Aviation also plays a very important role supporting New Zealand’s trade and tourism sectors.
”To keep doing all these activities which enrich our country’s economy we must act as quickly as we can to transition to a lower-carbon future. At the moment, SAF is the key way aviation will move towards this.
“Airlines are signing supply arrangements for SAF 10 years into the future and beyond, so we need to be part of the picture from the start otherwise New Zealand may fall behind. While the volumes of SAF we are buying are very small compared to the amount of fossil jet fuel we use, they give an important signal to alternative fuel producers that we are open for business,” says Ms Hannifin.